Through the Alumni Portal OSU alumni can obtain reference assistance from librarians or use the Libraries' catalog to search the nearly 6 million volumes in the collections at OSU as well as the more than 38 million owned by OhioLINK libraries.  By applying for a Courtesy Card, Alumni Association members or alumni who are Friends of the Library can borrow books and some other materials from OSU or other OhioLINK libraries.  

Members of either the Alumni Asso or the Friends of the Library also have direct access to a variety of databases on a broad spectrum of subjects. Many of these databases have been purchased specifically for the use of Alumni Association and Friends of the Libraries members by University Libraries and the Alumni Association; others are freely available on the Web, but they have been selected by librarians as being particularly useful.