Libraries are not the only way to get around scholarly article paywalls. In fact, some scholarly publishers have gotten rid of paywalls on scholarly works altogether!
This is called "open access," when scholarly information is freely available to read and use without paywalls. Watch this video for an overview of the open access movement.
There are a many ways to find open access content. Here are a few!
Library websites. If you search for articles on your university library's website, there is likely a way to limit your results to open access only.
Browser extensions. Open Access Button and Unpaywall are two of the major browser extensions that will search the web for open-access versions of the work you want to access.
Open access databases and repositories. There are many collections of open access work out there, such as the Directory of Open Access Journals, Directory of Open Access Books, and open access repositories that archive scholarly works and make them available to anyone.
Note: Libraries will generally not recommend using services like SciHub, because SciHub requires the donation of institutional usernames and passwords (a security risk) and the content is pirated. The methods above are completely legal ways to access scholarly information for free!
Now it's time to try out open access yourself! Pick one of the three methods above to search for open access scholarly articles on a topic of your choice. Then, let us know how it went!
1. The open access movement is dedicated to making scholarly information free for everyone to read and use.
2. Many scholarly publishers now publish open access journals, and there are multiple ways to find them online.