Inter-library Loans

The Library's inter-library loan scheme is through the British Library's Document Supply Centre (BLDSC).

Journal articles usually take 2-3 days (plus delivery time) to arrive, books generally longer. Articles are supplied as a photocopy for you to keep and there is currently no charge to you for these. Books are supplied on a three week loan, with an automatic three-week extension if no-one else has requested the item.

Placing a request for an inter-library loan presupposes that you have checked the library's holdings first: you should check the library catalogue (OPAC), the online full-text Journal databases and/or the e-journals list EBSCOhost A-Z.

To request an item please supply as much information as possible as this helps both us and the British Library to track down the item quickly. Request forms are available at the Issue counter for you to fill in. Alternatively you may e-mail details to library staff.

You will be kept informed of the progress of your request via notices to your University e-mail account. Sometimes this may be important as you may be on a waiting list for a book and this could take up to 6 months to arrive.

It is also essential, therefore, that you fill in the date after which you will no longer require an item. Failure to do so may result in you being charged £5.00 for uncollected items.

To consult the British Library's catalogue you may use the following:

• British Library catalogue
• British Library journal information

Inter-Library loan services from databases:

E-journal services:

Some of the e-journal databases the Library subscribes to (EBSCOhost, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts) offer you a direct link to an ILL request form. This form is then e-mailed to Library staff who will forward the request to the British Library.

Other e-journal resources allow you to purchase articles directly online. If you wish to obtain articles directly via these services the Library will pay the equivalent cost of a British Library loan if you are willing to pay the difference. Please ask Library staff for details.

Help

If you have any problems or questions you can ask for help from any of the library staff, telephone 020-7368-8-510 (Kensington) or 020-8332-8-210 (Richmond) or e-mail Library.

Link to this page: http://www.richmond.ac.uk/s/967.aspx