As part of the Library Without Walls  initiative, we are pleased to offer this off-campus research portal designed for individuals who have Library accounts but are not UPSem students, faculty, staff, or affiliated alumni. It searches over 6 million full-text journal articles, over 5 million full-text e-books, and a variety of other materials from high-quality web-based sources like the Directory of Open Access Journals, British Library EThOS, ERIC and HathiTrust. Members also have off-campus access to Overdrive, a collection of downloadable audiobooks, and to the Library’s own digitized historical collections.

In addition, we can now provide member researchers with the following resources through separate links (see below): the Anchor Yale Bible commentary series and dictionary, International Critical Commentary series, as well as the the Eerdmans Digital Reference Library and much more.

To log into the Member Research Portal, click the red button below.

Member Research Portal
Click Here to Login

To learn more or to apply for membership, please use one of these two links:

Patron Registration Page — Richmond Campus

Patron Registration Page — Charlotte Campus

If you encounter problems while using the Member Research Portal, or if you have questions about this service, please contact Electronic Services Librarian Ryan Douthat at rdouthat@upsem.edu or 804-278-4217.

Additional Resources :

Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries — Includes over 86 volumes and is one of the most trusted and long-running scholarly commentaries series for Biblical Studies scholars.

Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary — A well respected six-volume contemporary dictionary of the Bible offering the most up-to-date and comprehensive treatment of biblical subjects and topics.

Bloomsbury Academic eBooks — Includes titles from such scholarly series as The Library of New Testament Studies, The Library of Hebrew/Old Testament Studies, T&T Handbooks, International Critical Commentary and more!

Continental Commentaries (Fortress) — This commentary series brings together leading critical biblical scholarship from German and French scholars available to the English-speaking world. Includes 7 volumes available in eBook format.

Eerdmans Bible Commentaries: New Testament — Contains 54 authoritative commentaries offering insights on every book of the New Testament from leading international scholars. Includes titles from The New International Commentary on the New Testament, The Eerdmans Critical Commentary, The Pillar New Testament Commentary and Two Horizons New Testament Commentary series.

Eerdmans Bible Commentaries: Old Testament — Comprises 79 authoritative commentaries offering insights from leading international scholars and world-class Bible authorities on each book of the Old Testament. Includes tiles from The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, The Eerdmans Critical Commentary, International Theological Commentary and more.

Eerdmans Digital Reference Library — The Eerdmans Digital Reference Library comprises 43 fundamental reference works indispensable for any student or scholar delving into theology, biblical studies, and religious exploration. Among the resources within this collection are the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Encyclopedia of Christianity, Eerdmans Encyclopedia of Christian Art and Archaeology, and more.

Encyclopedia Judaica, Second Edition — The landmark Encyclopaedia Judaica, regarded as the standard reference work on Judaism since first appearing in the early 1970s, has been extensively revised and expanded for this new edition, focusing on Jewish life, culture, history and religion.

Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition —A standard reference in the field. Presents a cross-cultural approach that emphasizes religion’s role within everyday life and as a unique experience from culture to culture.  Especially valuable for interfaith and anthropological information.

Hermeneia Commentary Series Online – Click here for a full description of the collection and direct links to each volume.

International Critical Commentary — One of the most relevant aids to exegesis for over 100 years – linguistic and textual no less than archaeological, historical, literary and theological – with an outstanding level of comprehension and quality of scholarship. Includes 59 volumes.

T&T Clark Encyclopedia of Second Temple Judaism —  a two volume reference resource providing comprehensive access to 600 scholarly articles.

Open Access Digital Theological Library — content in religious studies and related disciplines from publisher websites, institutional repositories, scholarly societies, archives, and stable public domain collections

Biblical Studies UK — large collection of Open Access journals and books, all with appropriate permissions

Dimensions — a large Open Access academic journal content database, including social science, philosophy, religion and ethics, law, creative arts, language, education, history and archaeology

For many other high-quality online resources in religious studies and related fields, click HERE.