For help with a variety of enquiries you can contact the Library by:
libraryhelp@tees.ac.uk
01642 342100 (Monday - Friday 9am to 5pm)
Find us and check our opening hours
Feedback on our services
When we apply for an article to be sent to you, the British Library will scan it and place it on a secure website. You will then receive an email in your Teesside University email address containing a link to the document. The email will come from noreply@bldss.bl.uk - please make sure this doesn't go into your spam folder.
Once you have downloaded it, most publishers allow access for 3 years. We recommend you print out your document as soon as it's convenient.
Please ensure that printing is available from your computer before opening it. You are allowed to print a document once only.
You can register through the link in the e-mail you receive from the British Library
You will need an account with the British Library to access your documents
Look out for an e-mail from the British Library in your University mailbox
Follow the link in the e-mail to the British Library website
Put in your British Library Account Details - If you do not already have a British Library On Demand account you can sign up now (remember to validate your account)
Access your document through the link on the British Library website
You will need to specify that the document opens in Adobe
You will be required to log in to Adobe using your British Library On Demand username and password
Some newer versions of Internet Explorer have an automated PDF viewer, to open your British Library document you will need to specify that the document opens in Adobe.
When you click the link to download your document, you will be given the option to open or save the document, choose save (not save as).
A bar will then appear at the bottom of the page giving you further options.
Click the down arrow next to ‘open’ and choose ‘open with…’
Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader should be the top choice, choose this.
You will then be prompted to log in with your British Library Username and Password.
If you are using Google Chrome you will need to disable the built-in PDF viewer in order to read your document otherwise the document will open but all pages will be blank. To do this, type chrome://plugins in the address bar, then scroll down to Chrome PDF viewer and click on disable. Alternatively you could use a different browser such as Safari or Firefox.
You may find the same issue with other PDF readers, make sure you are using Adobe version 10 or above.
Apple products may be attempting to open your item in a programme other than Adobe Reader, if your document will not open or all pages are blank you may need to select ‘open in Adobe reader’ rather than just clicking on the document.
Microsoft Edge is not compatible for use with Secure Documents from the British Library. Please use Firefox or Internet Explorer. For more recent versions of Internet Explorer a workaround is needed: Document Does not Open - Internet Explorer
New users registering with the British Library will need to validate their account before access to the document is granted.
You should receive 2 emails from the British Library as part of the registration process, one asking you to validate and one confirming your account set up.
It may take up to 5 minutes following receipt of the second email for your account to be activated, if you cannot gain access please try again in 5-10 minutes.
If you did not validate your account when you set it up you can request the validation e-mail is resent by logging in at
My Account and clicking 'validate account'
Although you will initially be asked for your username or e-mail address to access the document, to log into Adobe Reader you must use your British Library Username, you will not be able to log on using your e-mail address at this point.
Please contact libraryhelp@tees.ac.uk if you continue to experience problems.
If you have previously registered online with the British Library Reading Rooms you will need to enable On Demand services if you wish to use the same account details for your inter library loans.
Log in at myaccount.bl.uk
Go to 'Other Services'
Enable: British Library On Demand
If this option is grayed out you have not yet validated your account but should have the option to resend the activation e-mail under 'my settings'
If you encounter a message about secure printing in Adobe Reader you will need to adjust your settings as follows:
Disabling Protected Mode in Adobe Reader:
Please contact libraryhelp@tees.ac.uk if you continue to experience problems.
