Interlibrary loans & document delivery
What is interlibrary loans and document delivery?
Interlibrary loans & document delivery is a service for requesting books, journal articles and other resources not held by University of Melbourne Libraries. It is there to support staff and postgraduate students engaged in research and teaching activities.
As well as offering an interlibrary loan service, the Library invites you to suggest items to purchase. To make a recomendation for purchase, please complete the form available at the following URL: http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/suggestions/purchase.html
For items over $5000 please use the Recommendation to the Materials Vote Advisory Group form. Please understand that we may not buy everything requested. The decision to purchase an item is based on the availability of funds, and on the teaching, learning and research requirements of the University.
Who is eligible to use interlibrary loans & document delivery?
This service is available to all University of Melbourne general and academic staff and postgraduate students, including Masters by Coursework. The service is also available to undergraduate honours (4th year) and Advanced Medical Science students with authorisation from their supervisor.
Please note: while the Brownless Biomedical Library is undergoing redevelopment, undergraduate students are eligible to request items that have been identified as unavailable due to the building works. Please see interlibrary loans staff for details.
Making interlibrary loan requests
Requests may be made for material not held by University of Melbourne libraries that is required for purposes directly related to research or study at the University. Please ensure the item isn't held by a University of Melbourne library by first checking the library catalogue and SuperSearch. Requests for material held by the University, even if it is out on loan, will be cancelled. Some material may also be available through BONUS+.
When placing a request, please provide the full citation information to describe as best as possible the item that you wish to borrow. Interlibrary loans staff will send back any request that has insufficient bibliographical information which they cannot verify.
- Books: Author's name in full, title, place of publication, publisher, date of publication and ISBN if known.
- Book chapters: Book title and author/editor, chapter number or title, author if different to the book as a whole, page numbers.
- Journal articles: Journal title in full (no abbreviations, please), ISSN if known, volume number, date, author and title of article, page numbers. Please note that complete volumes are seldom available for loan.
- AV material: Title, artist/director, year and place of publication, format. Please note that most AV material is library use only and will sent to the Education Resource Centre for access.
Please be aware that all interlibrary loan requests must adhere to current copyright laws. For more information about copyright see: http://www.unimelb.edu.au/copyright/
Requests from staff and postgraduates
Staff and Postgraduate students may make a request using our online order form. Please note, there are separate forms for Books, Journal Articles and AV Material:
Requests from undergraduate and honours students and approved borrowers
Undergraduates, Honours and AMS students may request material using these PDF request forms:
- Interlibrary loan journal article form [PDF 95kb 1 page]
- Interlibrary loan book request form [PDF 91kb 1 page]
Submit completed forms to the Interlibrary loans counter in the Baillieu Library, or to the nearest branch library. Off-campus LFR and Vet Science Werribee students may lodge their requests at their campus library.
Please note: honours students must have the approval of their supervisor before submitting an interlibrary loan request.
Costs
Currently there is no charge for interlibrary loan requests, however full cost recovery may be charged for the purchase of a thesis, higher than usual acquisition or postage costs or specialty reproduction services. Please ask staff for details.
Delivery time
Supply time varies according to where the material is located and how quickly that library or supplier responds. Books and micorforms are generally available within 5-7 working days. Most journal articles arrive in 2-3 working days. Overseas loans usually take 2-6 weeks to arrive. If material is required urgently, see below for urgent requests.
How will I be notified?
You will be notified by email when an item is available to collect. Journal articles will be sent electronically to your desktop unless you elect that they be sent by post or arrange to collect them from the interlibrary loans counter in the Baillieu Library.
Collecting interlibrary loan material
You can collect interlibrary loan material from the interlibrary loans desk in the Baillieu Library Monday to Friday, 10am-6pm. If you are unable to collect material during those hours, please contact interlibrary loans staff on (03) 8344 5388 to arrange for the material to be left at the reference desk for collection in the evening or on the weekend.
Certain interlibrary loans can be transferred to branch libraries for collection upon request. Some interlibrary loan material is Library Use Only and must not be removed from the library. This applies to overseas loans, theses, rare or fragile items and AV material. Arrangements can be made to have Library Use Only material transferred to another branch library, such as the Law Library, or off-campus LFR libraries and Vet Science Werribee. Please contact interlibrary loans staff for details.
Renewing a loan
Not all interlibrary loan material is eligible for renewal. Items eligible for renewal may be renewed once. Please contact interlibrary loans a few days before the due date so that staff can arrange the renewal with the lending library.
Urgent requests
Very urgent requests can be 'fast tracked' with an expected supply time of 48 to 72 hours. Please include the specific date by which you need the material when you submit the request.
Notice: CISTI Source to be Retired
CISTI Source will be retired at the end of August 2009 and NCR-CISTI will be launching a new article alert service with their Discover product. This article alert service will allow you to receive alerts or view table of contents for free, but will require payment at the point of ordering for articles.
As an institutional ordering service is no longer offered through the Discover product, University of Melbourne staff and postgraduate students looking for University Library funded article ordering will need to request material via the standard interlibrary loans service: http://cat.lib.unimelb.edu.au/screens/ill.html
CARM requests
Some of the library's low-use collections are held in off-site storage in the CARM Centre at Bundoora. These items have the location CARM or UniM Bund P listed in the library catalogue. To make a request please complete the following form:
University of Melbourne theses
Information about accessing and obtaining copies of University of Melbourne theses can be found here.