Requesting books, articles, reports, conference papers, and theses not held at Herts
What is an Inter Library Loan (ILL)?
Who can use the ILL services and is there a cost?
Articles, reports, book chapters, and conference papers
What is an Inter Library Loan (ILL)?
When that essential journal article; book; book chapter; conference paper or thesis; chapter or book is not held by the UH library, the ILL team will try to get it for you.
We use a range of services to supply articles, theses and book chapters in PDF formats for you to keep and print books which are loaned to you.
- Electronically delivered items are sent to us from other institutions around the world and are supplied by email as a link to a PDF for you to keep.
- Books are borrowed from the British Library and participating Universities in the UK; loan terms are set by individual lenders and is usually about 4 - 6 weeks.
Who can use the ILL services and is there a cost?
All registered students and staff at the University of Hertfordshire (UH) can request items to support their private research or studies, the cost for this service is paid for by UH and is supplied to you *free of charge.
*The cost of replacement for Long overdue, damaged or lost books will be charged to the requester.
Before placing a request
- Please check the UH Online Library Search to see if you can access a local holding immediately from the library's own collections.
- Before requesting a print book loan, please check that your library account is not blocked, book loans can’t be checked out to a blocked account.
If we are unable to supply your requested item, the ILL team will notify you by email.
Top tips
- For quick and easy article requests, adding in the DOI auto-populates the form, include a journal ISSN for articles, as this really speeds up your request, if you don’t have the ISSN you can search on this database
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Book chapter requests require the book ISBN, page numbers and publication year to automate and speed up the process.
- If you have downloaded the Lean Library browser extension you can access the ILL request forms by clicking Order Now on the pop up.
How to place your request
- Log into StudyNet, click on the Online Library tab
- Scroll down to find ‘My Library Account’ the link to ‘Request Items not held at UH’ which takes you to the ILL request pages. You can also check the status of your ILL requests on this page at any time.
- Select + Create a new Request.
Articles, reports, book chapters, and conference papers
A copyright declaration is required, click ‘Yes’ to confirm your request is compliant, then select the appropriate form for your request type from the drop-down menu.
- Please complete all the fields you can with the relevant information.
- Click ‘Create’ to place request.
- If a local holding is available a link to the item will appear. You can still click on ‘Create’ if the link doesn’t take you to what you require.
Depending on availability and the information submitted, a link or attachment to a PDF will be delivered to your personal email within one to five working days.
Links are only active for 30 days after receipt so please download your item as soon as possible. We recommend that you rename the file to make it easier to find later.
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Theses
We can purchase ProQuest theses for you, an email with a link to the Thesis PDF is usually available within a few working days.
The British Library (EThOS) is now available in a new format that provides access to over 650,000 metadata records of UK PhD theses. Almost 65% of these records provide links to the institutional repositories, where the full text theses can be consulted, if available. https://www.bl.uk/collection/ethos
Print book loans
- You can directly access the Print book loan request form as book loans don’t require a copyright declaration.
- Please complete all the fields you can with the relevant information.
- Select a Collection location and tick the box if wish to collect from a lower locker.
- Click ‘Create’ to place your request.
Books can take up to two weeks to arrive and need to be collected from the Collect & drop off lockers on the ground floor of the LRC you selected.
When the book has been received by the ILL team you will receive two emails to your personal email account, one with collection information and one as a confirmation that the book has been added to your library account.
When the book has been placed in a locker, a Collection code will be sent to your university email account from noreply@mail.onarken.com, please wait for the code before going to the LRC to collect your book. Please note: DH LRC collections will be a few days in transit from CL before you will receive the Collection code.
Access to the Collect & drop off lockers is available 24/7 (except for published LRC closures) Library staff will be unable to access the lockers for you but may be able to assist if you have the Collection code or your physical UH ID card.
Book loan return due date will be shown on your library account and on the slip inside the book. Please collect your book promptly to gain the maximum loan period as loan extensions are at the discretion of the lender and may incur a further charge to the University.
Return your book loan in one of the black Book Return Boxes in the LRC at College Lane or de Havilland. You will receive a book returned confirmation email and a UH Mobile app notification when it has been taken off your library account by library staff. (this may be the next day)
Please ensure books are returned promptly. As a courtesy, we aim to return all borrowed books back to the lenders on time. Please contact the **ILL team if you are unable to return a book on time as we may be able to extend the loan period.
Reference Only
Occasionally a Library may lend us items for 'Reference-only' use, you will be contacted by email to check you can get to the LRC as you would only have access to the book within the LRC during staffed hours (10:00-17:30) (Except for Bank Holidays/Seasonal closures). Collection will be from the LRC Welcome desk of the campus LRC selected on your request form, you will be required to show your ID card and must return the book to the Welcome desk by 17:30 the same day.
Contact
**ILL Team: our email address is shown on the bottom of the ILL request page (please include the request ID number in the query if available).
Helpdesk, helpdesk@herts.ac.uk, call +44 (0)1707 284678 from your mobile or use one of the Information Point phones located on all floors at College Lane LRC and De Havilland LRC
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