Welcome! This checklist highlights Library advice, information, and resources designed to help you succeed as a student at an Affiliated Research Centre (ARC) affiliated with The Open University. 

Attend a Library online training session 

The Library’s training sessions will introduce you to the OU Library, show you how to use online resources effectively, and help with finding resources. The Library offers a number of training sessions and events that run periodically and cover topics such as "Reference management tools — an Introduction" and "Smarter searching with library databases."

Attend training sessions offered by the Library Research Support team​

The Research Support team offers a range of training sessions across different areas designed to support you, including sessions on research data management, Open Access publishing, ORCIDs, literature searching, copyright and sessions that provide an overview of what the Library can do to support your research degree. Sign up to one of our sessions.

Visit the Library website to explore library resources

The Library website is your gateway to the extensive library content provided by The Open University. Use the Library Search box to start searching for resources such as ebooks, databases, journals or journal articles. Alternatively, use the Library Resources tab to browse for resources. Most of our content is available online.

Learn about Library Helpdesk, our 24/7 Chat to a Librarian service and the LibChat Chatbot

Find links to contact the Library Helpdesk on every page of the Library Services website, including details of our webchat service if you need assistance with library resources or services. Alternatively, use our LibChat Chatbot to help with quick queries.

Disabled user support

The Library has a variety of services and support to help with your accessibility needs. Learn about database accessibility, how to convert files into accessible formats, referencing and literature searching help, and support from other organisations. 

Set up Google Scholar to link to full text resources provided by Library Services

Instructions for setting up Google Scholar are available on the Library website.

Check out LEAN Library

The LEAN Library access browser extension will alert you whenever you are on a website if the content you are viewing is available via Open University subscribed content, helping you find what you need with a single click!

Find out about the SCONUL Access scheme 

The SCONUL Access scheme allows all PGRs based in the UK and Republic of Ireland access to other academic libraries near you. Join the scheme early on to make sure your application is processed and ready for you to use at all participating libraries.

Learn about tools that will help you manage your references

See the Bibliographic management page, and have a look at our comparison tables on the reference management tools page to help you compare functionality between EndNote 21, EndNote Onine, Mendeley and Zotero.

Copyright, plagiarism, and your thesis

We recommend you think about securing permission for any third party copyrighted material early on.  Have a look at the Research Skills site (OU login required) to help you make a start and come along to our copyright training session. Follow this activity to learn about different forms of plagiarism and how to avoid them during the production of your thesis (OU login required).

Data management

Write a data management plan (DMP)

Data management plans (DMPs) help formulate how you’ll store and manage your research data throughout your project and how you plan to archive and share it at the end. Under the Open University Research Data Management Policy, it is mandatory to write a DMP before data collection begins and uploard a copy of it to ORDO, (the OU's research data repository). Research data is the evidence on which researchers build their analytic or other work, collected, observed or created for the purposes of analysis to produce and validate original research results. Examples are images; video and audio; survey results and interview transcripts; experimental observations; text corpuses; notebooks and lab books; models and software. Contact the Research Support team for advice; we can check your DMP for you.

Read about the potential benefits of sharing your research data

In keeping with The Open University principle of openness, it is expected that research data and software will be shared as openly as possible (within legal, commercial and ethical restrictions). There is lots of information and guidance on data sharing on the Library Research Support website.

Open Access

Join our Open Research Community on Viva Engage

The Research Support Team has an Open Research Community on Viva Engage. This is a forum for posting relevant news, developments, and policy updates and for prompting questions, debates, and discussions on the direction of Open Research, as well as for sharing services and tools to support researchers in navigating this fast-paced world. This is an inclusive, supportive, and active community for researchers and research support staff across the Open University to interact, discuss, share knowledge, and encourage good working practices to embed a culture of Open Research. Why not join the conversation today by joining the Open Research Community.

Find out about Open Access publishing

Open Access aims to make the research process more transparent and published outputs from research accessible to all. Making research outputs Open Access can increase their readership and impact. Research funders increasingly require research data and published outputs to be made Open Access. If your research degree is funded, please check our list of funder requirements.

Familiarise yourself with Open Research Online (ORO)

Open Research Online (ORO) is The Open University’s open access repository of research publications. It contains records of research outputs published by OU staff and postgraduate research students and theses of former research students. Many of the ORO records also have the full-text of the publications attached. All postgraduate researchers are required to deposit the full-text of their thesis in ORO and a DataCite digital object identifier (DOI) will be created which provides a permanent citable web link.

Find out about Open Research Data Online (ORDO)

Open Research Data Onlline (ORDO) is The Open University’s research data repository, where Open University researchers can upload their data for long-term preservation and, where appropriate, sharing e.g., at the end of a project or supporting a publication. Data stored in ORDO will be kept for a minimum of ten years after project completion. Published data will be given a DataCite digital object identifier (DOI), providing a permanent, citable web link.

Investigate tools that help you find Open Access versions of research publications

Have a look at Unpaywall. There is also CORE and EndNote Click. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) will also help you find Open Access content.

Set up ORCID

ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a unique digital identifier that helps ensure you get credit for all your published work. You will be required to use an ORCID when you upload your research data to ORDO. You can register for an ORCID free online.

Stay connected

Check out The Open University Library YouTube channel. 

Join the OULibrary on Facebook and Bluesky.

Need a quick reminder of what we do? Watch our 160-second video introduction to the Library for PGRs!