Raven FAQs

Raven (now referred to as University Accounts) is a web authentication service administered by University Information Services used by some web sites within and outside the University that provide resources for the University of Cambridge, to identify people so that decisions (such as granting or denying access) can be made based on attributes of who that person is and on other information about them while maintaining privacy of personal data.

All Alumni (including those with MA degrees) of the University, who no longer conduct research, teach or study at Cambridge are not entitled to an account. Members of private companies who have close links to University departments, employees of the NHS or MRC or any Recognised Non-University Institution without a joint University appointment and visitors to University premises (including libraries) unless designated official visiting status by either a department or college, are also not entitled to access University licensed material. Even those supervising University post graduate students are, under this policy, not entitled to access the same University licenced services that the student can use.

Registration at and admission to Cambridge University Library and affiliated libraries, as a non-University patron, does not include entitlement to have remote access to licensed eresources or to be issued with a Raven account/password.

It is normal practice to allow retiring staff, who are receiving a University or College pension, to keep their University accounts. In regards to retired members of staff wishing to use Raven to access e-resources the following statement may apply .

The licence terms under which we are authorising users for access to online resources, via Raven, still generally exclude retired members of an institution as a class. As previously under ATHENS we would extend the definition of "current staff or student" to include a retired member of staff who remains academically active within the department or College and therefore whose use can legitimately be seen as being for University purposes.

In order to support this, we would need confirmation from the department regarding the ongoing role. This would need to come from HR, HoD'S office or Departmental Adminstrator or college equivalent. In some cases, such information is also provided through the departmental or college library.

University accounts remain active for the duration of the time a user is at the University. In terms of eresource access and when that expires, this might differ, depending on someones University status. Current staff and student access will automatically cease on either the date when their contract finishes or a course is completed.

With the latter, this will occur before the degree is conferred.

This is to ensure that University remains within the terms of our licenses that only permits access to be granted to 'current students'. Once a student completes, they are no longer viewed as current and although their account may be active for a period of time after completion, UIS will automatically remove the permissions needed to access eresources.

These can be reinstated if the student has an ongoing supervisor role. The student would need to contact the helpdesk here. 

If you are having problems logging into iDiscover, with your RAVEN account, please be aware that this not required when accessing eresources. Simply use the search facility in iDiscover (without logging at all) and log in with your RAVEN credentials when prompted to do so by the resource you are trying to access.

Logging in to iDiscover gives you access to circulation/borrowing services (such as MyLibrary account) and functionality that allows you to request and recall items. It is dependent on you having an active patron account on the UL’s library management system – ALMA.

Please contact reader registrations at the UL by emailing registration@lib.cam.ac.uk for further information regarding patron accounts.

For further information regarding accessing eresources please see the following websites

https://moore.libraries.cam.ac.uk/raven-faqs

https://www.libraries.cam.ac.uk/eresources

You can also contact the UL’s lib-raven helpdesk at raven@lib.cam.ac.uk

As with ATHENS, Raven will only work with resources and content for which the University actually holds a current licence. To establish which sites require a Raven login you should always go through the eresources@cambridge website, as this will confirm what we have access to and provide information regarding coverage and access routes. For example the complete volume range, of a particular ejournal, might be spread across multiple online resources to give the most cost effective coverage.  

Should you find you can't access something that you should be able to use and your Raven account is working fine then please contact the helpdesk by using this form.

Yes. Please use raven@lib.cam.ac.uk for any related question you might have that has not been covered elsewhere on this page and for all access enquiries. This helpdesk is manned during normal office hours. Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm.

Please note that it is not possible to give out passwords over the phone or send them via email. No member of staff at either UIS or the University Library will ever ask you for your password nor should it be revealed within the text of any enquiry.