Services at the British Library are being reinstated following the cyber-attack in October 2023. A full list of what is accessible and when services might be reinstated is on their "What's currently available" webpage.

Until access to all their systems and services has resumed you may wish to explore the following alternative options.

UK doctoral theses

EThoS (Electronic Theses Online Service) is still unavailable . The temporary catalogue now provides access to a limited number of digital doctoral theses held in UK institutional repositories. Search for a thesis, click on the title and then scroll to the section "View Online" to see if there is a link. If there is no link to a digital copy make a note of the awarding institution, navigate to their website and see if it is available in a research repository.

We provide access to Proquest  Dissertation and Theses database with access to theses from across the world, many of which are in full-text. OATD (Open Access Theses and Dissertations) can be searched to find open access theses and dissertations from research institutions across the world. 

ESTC (English Short Title Catalogue)

The British Library is providing access to a new beta version of the ESTC which allows you to search around 500,000 records of works printed in the English speaking world before 1801. We provide access to both Early English Books Online and Eighteenth Century Collections Online which provide digitised images of texts. Alternatively you may wish to try USTC (Universal Short Title Catalogue) which offers further bibliographic data and a list of holdings.  

Please contact us if you need further advice on searching alternative resources.