Library services

Scholarly support to IUCN researchers

All IUCN constituencies

The IUCN Library Team offers assistance with publishing in external (non-IUCN) sources, including help with: journal selection, peer-review policies, publishers’ editorial policies, understanding donors’ open-access requirements.

We also provide support on understanding and using research tools, such as: research profiles, bibliography and reference management, publication metrics, social media performance, copyright policies, etc.

HQ-based Secretariat staff

The IUCN Library Team offers physical loans of items in our collection, as well as interlibrary loans, to HQ-based IUCN Secretariat staff.

IUCN Secretariat staff worldwide

We offer assistance to IUCN Secretariat staff worldwide with finding and accessing journal articles and other conservation literature for use in their research.

Open access

As the world’s largest environmental network, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between the open access movement and the conservation community, as part and parcel of its historic efforts to facilitate access to knowledge on nature conservation.

With the assistance of the Arcadia Fund, the IUCN Library is extending access to conservation knowledge by providing guidance and outreach to the IUCN conservation community on the fundamentals of open access and supporting the development of an IUCN Open Access policy.

Open Access Week 2023

This year IUCN participated in International Open Access Week for the second time. From 23 to 26 October, we hosted a series of online sessions, following this year’s theme ‘Community over Commercialization’, which gave us the chance to discuss about how to prioritize the best interests of the public and the research community..

Open Access Week 2022

From October 24 to 28 2022, IUCN participated in International Open Access Week for the very first time. IUCN’s very own Library and Publishing colleagues organized 5 sessions covering different topics, including on “Open for climate justice”, this year's theme. Our goal was for attendees to come away with greater knowledge and awareness on open access and scholarly communications more generally, and to inspire IUCN to solidify its open access foundations.

Other Open Access sessions

To provide additional tools for publishing Open Access, we organized outreach sessions, which recordings can be accessed here: 

For advice and support regarding open access, please get in contact with our Scholarly Communications Librarian.