skip to content

University of the West of Scotland


Library
| Share

Inter Library Loans

In order to read electronically delivered ILL's from the British Library you will need Adobe Reader version 4 or above with the FileOpen plug-in installed. These plug-ins are free of charge. (You may have to contact ICT to download the plug-in on your computer on campus.)

 

Limits

There is an overall annual allowance for ILLs and a limit on the number of concurrent requests you may have. Note that students who want to request more ILLs than the allowance below may do so if the request is signed by a tutor.

The limits are as follows:

Reader category

Allowance

Concurrent limit

Academic staff

30

10

Research student

30

10

Graduate course students (post-graduates) and Honours year students.

20

10

Health, Nursing and Midwifery final year students.

IMPORTANT: Please write "3rd Year Nurse" or "3rd Year Midwife" at the top of the form.

20

10

Staff – non academic

5

5

The allowance includes renewal requests made on an existing ILL. Once the concurrent limit is reached no further requests will be accepted until one or more items have been delivered.

[Back to top]

 

UK Theses

Ethos Digital Theses Service - Digitised theses delivered free of charge to your desktop by the British Library. You must first create an account.

Please note that in order to read the theses you will need to download Adobe Digital Editions, or Adobe Reader version 4 or above with the FileOpen plug-in installed. (You may have to contact ICT to download Digital Editions the FileOpen plug-in on your computer on campus.) These downloads are free of charge.

Further information regarding EThOS

[Back to top]

General Guidance

An inter-library loan (ILL) is an item borrowed from another library (normally the British Library) on your behalf.
  • Each ILL has a direct cost to the Library of £7.50 for a photocopy, £6.35 for an electronically-delivered article, or £9.90 plus return postage for a loan. This does not include staff overheads. Overseas transactions cost the Library considerably more.  For this reason only essential material should be requested. It is also useful, whenever possible, to read any abstracts which may be available and (for students) to discuss possible requests with their supervisor in order to gauge the relevance of the original document.
When placing a request:
  • Before you make a request, check our catalogue, ejournal list, the Mitchell Library and other university libraries in the Glasgow area. You might be able to consult the item in a library nearby. The SCONUL Access scheme is also worth investigating. SCONUL Access enables staff, students, and research students to borrow material from other libraries.
  • A separate ILL form should be completed for each item being requested. ILL requests may be also submitted by email to the appropriate campus email address as given below.
  • Allow plenty of time for us to obtain items. It takes on average a week for ILL requests to be received, though it can take longer, particularly for books/loans, to arrive. A letter or email is sent to inform you that the item is available, and this should be brought when you come to collect it. The return date is printed inside the book and it can be recalled after this date. If so, it must be returned as soon as possible. However, if there is no recall, an automatic 3 week extension to the loan is possible. The library is charged £3.50 for each renewal, so a loan should only be renewed if really necessary. Photocopies supplied through the ILL service may usually be retained by the requester.

[Back to top]

 

 


Contact details for further information:
 
Copyright Notes:
  • If requesting material for inclusion on Blackboard a copyright-cleared ILL must be obtained. This is more expensive than an ordinary ILL request so please ask the library staff for further details.
  • If more than one article from one issue of a journal is required, you must request a loan of the entire issue.
  • You must ensure that you do not request a copy of the SAME article on more than one occasion.
  • You must not supply the photocopy to any other person. You also must not request the same material, at the same time, for the same purpose as a colleague or another person who you are working with.

[Back to top]