Visitor Privileges

retrieving a bookBorrowing

Library cards for non-UCSB borrowers are $100 for one year. Members of  the UCSB Affiliates  or Music Affiliates  may buy a library card for $25 for one year. Membership to either of these Affiliates is $40 per year, or $50 for both groups. Acceptable payment is by check or money order only.

Several categories of users are eligible for library cards free of charge, including:

  • Most members of the UC Alumni Association
  • California K-12 public school teachers
  • Students, faculty, and staff at other UC campuses
  • Faculty from institutions participating in the OCLC Reciprocal Faculty Borrowing Program
  • Faculty and librarians at WASC-accredited California colleges and universities.

Note: Library cards for non-UCSB borrowers do not include Interlibrary Loan privileges nor access to licensed databases from off campus.

Interlibrary Loan

We are unable to offer Interlibrary Loan services to community members. If you wish to borrow an item not owned by the UCSB Library, please contact your local library. Nearly all libraries provide Interlibrary Loan service, including the Santa Barbara Public Library.

If you cannot easily travel to UCSB but wish to borrow something that we own, contact your local library and ask that the item be sent on your behalf via Interlibrary loan. Lending Services for non-UCSB Libraries provides instructions for libraries on borrowing materials from UCSB.

Reference and Research Assistance

Reference and research assistance is available to community members.  For more information, Ask a Librarian.

Database and Computing

Visitors and the public may use our computers to search our library catalog, the Melvyl catalog (libraries worldwide), many of our databases, and to do research on the internet. However, please note the following:

  • Students, faculty, staff, and those doing research have priority for use of our computers. See our Computer Use Policy for more details.
  • Some of our electronic resources are limited by license agreements to registered students, faculty, and staff of UCSB. They may not be accessed from off-campus by community members.
  • See Free Publicly-Accessible Databases on the Web for a partial list of various databases either free or available to Santa Barbara Public Library cardholders.