Scope

These web pages are aimed at Max Planck Society staff and explain how access to electronic content is provided for.

Search and Find

Locate the desired paper (eBook, journal, article…) on the web, for example, via google, WoS, etc. For help on locating electronic resources, please see resource navigator MPG.ReNa.

To Pay or Not To Pay

There are publications available free of charge (Open Access), and there is literature behind paywalls. However, as a Max Planck scientist, the major part of the relevant subscription-based literature should be available to you for your research. Individual subscriptions to the numerous journals, databases, eBooks, etc., are negotiated centrally by the Max Planck Digital Library and are licensed MPG-wide for the benefit of all institutes. In addition, special literature is acquired individually by Max Planck Institute libraries. Consequently, at your institute, you have access to resources licensed both centrally and locally.

Work and Read

To be able to read an article at your institute you do not need any account or username & password because your access is enabled automatically via the Max Planck Institute network. This authorization is provided for by the Campus Magic service.

Travel and Still Read

If this fails, you may be within a different network (e.g. Eduroam, guest network, smartphone/tablet connection, private network). This is especially likely to be true when you are travelling or trying to read MPG-licensed content from home.

To get access nevertheless, you must, as it were, construct a bridge to your institute. At your institute there may already exist a preferred solution to achieve this. The service concept Travel Magic has been designed as a smart option to build this bridge.