The Geological Society of London, one of the world’s oldest national scientific and professional societies for earth scientists, is opening up its archive of published material free to anyone for four weeks from 17 May to 18 June.

The Lyell Collection represents the digitized content of the society’s extensive range of publications, covering journal and book articles from the mid 1800s to the present. The Lyell Collection was created to mark the Geological Society of London’s 200th anniversary, and is one of the largest integrated collections of online earth science literature.

Although a subscription will be required for full access from June 18, many aspects of the service will remain entirely free for public use. This includes a sophisticated search functionality, access to summaries and abstracts and e-mail alerts about new content as it is added.