Membership Benefits

Access PBSA Online in HTML, PDF, EPUB and MOBI Formats

Individual subscriptions come with membership in the Society, and include the full year’s issues in print and e-Book formats.

In addition to downloadable PDFs and HTML access to articles, BSA members also have exclusive access to the e-Book edition of this issue, which can be downloaded as an EPUB or MOBI file and read on an iPad, iPhone, Nook, Kindle, Android, or computer—even when the device is not connected to the internet.

University of Chicago Press Books Discount

BSA members receive a 30% discount on all books published or distributed by the University of Chicago Press. A discount code is available on the password-protected membership benefits page on our website.

BSA mebmers receive reciprocal membership benefits at the Center for Book Arts in New York City. The Center for Book Arts promotes active explorations of artistic practices related to the book as an art object. CBA’s multifaceted in-person and online offerings include:

• Workshops (in-person in NYC and online)
• Access to studios and equipment
• Book Collections
• Exhibitions
• Events

Log in to the BSA’s password-protected member benefits page for discount codes applicable to workshops, studio rentals, and their book shop.

Members of the BSA are invited to join the New York Society Library (NYSL) at a special rate of $170/year. Memberships and renewals will be handled directly by the Society Library; BSA members can access a special join link through the password-protected membership page on our website.

About Discounted Membership for BSA Members

The NYSL provides individuals, families, and couples with a variety of membership options, ranging from $100 to $350/year, including an e-membership that provides access to all of their remote resources.

The BSA recognizes that independent scholars, precariously employed academics, and booksellers need research services beyond what most public libraries can offer. Working with the Society Library, we crafted a special option for members of the BSA which includes access to electronic resources; Interlibrary Loan services; 10 building visits per year, including access to most member-only spaces; and access to expert reader’s advisory and reference services at a cost of $170 per year.

We know that $170 may be a significant commitment for many of you. We value your feedback, and hope that you will let us know if you have thoughts on how we can improve this benefit to make it more accessible and relevant to your research needs. Email the BSA office anytime, bsa@bibsocamer.org.

How to Access Your Discount

A special join link is available to members on the BSA’s password-protected member benefits page. Log in and click the button to direct you to the NYSL membership and payment form.

About the Society Library

The New York Society Library holds a growing collection of nearly 300,000 volumes with an emphasis on the humanities. Strengths include fiction and literature, biography, U.S. and European history, travel, and New York City history and culture. Members in the NYC area can browse and borrow books from the library’s eight open stacks; those farther afield can borrow books by mail for a small fee. As the oldest cultural institution in New York City, the Society Library has been collecting since 1754 and remarkably holds many books in early or otherwise noteworthy editions, and many of these continue to circulate. For all those interested in the material history of books, the Library’s physical collections are a tremendous resource for research, while also supporting reading for pleasure. The Library’s Special Collections and digital offerings are remarkable, as well.

All NYSL members have remote and on-site access to NYSL’s electronic resources, including JSTOR, Project Muse, The Chicago Manual of Style, Oxford English Dictionary, The London and New York Reviews of Books, and the TLS archive. The ebooks and audiobook collection offers over 2,000 titles from classics to today’s bestsellers. Overdrive digital magazines contains approximately 3,000 popular periodicals covering a wide variety of subjects and interests–from the New Yorker and The Economist to Smithsonian Magazine and Vanity Fair.

The Library is located at 53 E. 79th Street, between Park and Madison Avenue, just blocks from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park. The building is a welcoming place for members and the general public (who are invited to request books in the reference room), with reading rooms and stacks that are open for browsing. Details on building access for BSA-NYSL members are provided below.

The Humanities Ebook Collection is a collaboration among the American Council of Learned Societies (of which BSA is a member), Michigan Publishing, and the Fulcrum publishing platform. This curated-resource features over 5,700 scholarly books from over 125 publishers. These include C. Paul Christianson’s A Directory of London Stationers and Book Artisans, 1300-1500 and all 29 volumes of Sabin’s Bibliotheca Americana. As part of its ongoing work, the Publications Committee is adding more titles relevant to bibliographical scholarship.

Subscriptions align with annual BSA memberships, beginning October 1 and expiring on September 30. Subscribing members will receive an email message from Michigan Publishing with instructions for setting up their login and password on their system within 10 days of subscribing through BSA.

How to Subscribe

A subscription form is avilable to active BSA members on the password-protected member benefits page on the BSA website. Log in with the instructions you received by email, or contact bsa@bibsocamer.or for assistance.