If you need a book or journal article that is not held in any format at one of the University of Gloucestershire libraries, the Inter-Library Loans (ILL) service may be able to obtain a copy from another institution.
Before submitting your Inter-Library Loan request, please check Library Discovery to ensure we do not already hold the item. We are unable to request items already owned by us.
(This service can only provide items for individual, private study. Items to be used for teaching purposes should be requested via an academic liaison librarian.)
The ILL service is available to the following users:
| Type of User | Free requests per year |
|---|---|
| UoG undergraduate | 10 |
| UoG postgraduate | 20 |
| UoG researcher | 50 |
| UoG staff | 50 |
Items requested beyond entitlement are charged at the full British Library borrowing rate. Please contact illpqd@glos.ac.uk for details.
Unfortunately, students at collaborative partners on franchised courses are not eligible for ILL and should make requests to their home libraries.
(There are also video guides at the bottom of this page.)
Inter-library loan requests are made via the catalogue, Library Discovery.
Search in Library Discovery using title or keywords:
Click on the title of an entry to view the detail screen:
Items not held by the University of Gloucestershire will display a blue ‘Request an Inter-Library Loan if not held by UoG’ button on the right. Click this to access the ILL request form.
Select the 'Sign in using University network username' option (if not already signed in):
The ILL request form will then load with pre-filled details. Please complete the rest and tick the Copyright compliance statement at the end.
You will receive an email confirmation after you submit your request.
Inter-library loan requests may be placed for items that are:
We are not allowed to request whole ebooks, only one chapter, so if you require more than one chapter you should request a loan of the print item.
To comply with UK copyright law, we can only request a copy of one chapter per book or one article per journal issue.
It is not possible to post ILL items to you so please only request items you can use.
Delivery and collection details depend on the type of item requested - digital or physical loan.
Delivery/Collection details for ILLs
| Journal articles/book chapters (digital items) | Books and physical items | |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery time | Please allow a week although we aim to be faster. |
2-3 weeks sourced within the UK, 4 weeks from abroad (we always try UK first). |
| Delivery method |
Digital - You'll receive an email with a link and password to a PDF. Requests may also be supplied digitally by the British Library and you will be provided with details of how to access them. |
Collect in person - you'll receive an email when your item is ready. Collect from the Library desk Mon-Fri 10am-4pm at the Library you selected on the request form. Loans not collected may be charged at the British Library borrowing rate. Some loans are not borrowable and must be consulted in the Library, we'll let you know in the collection email if this applies to your loan. Unfortunately, we're not able to post ILL items to you. |
| Loan period | Access is time limited (usually 30 days) and cannot be requested again within 12 months. You can print one copy however. | The loan period is set by the lender (but is usually at least 3 weeks) and items are subject to recall so please collect them as soon as possible. |
| Returning | Digital items do not need to be returned. | Please return your item to a member of Library staff at the Library desk on or before the due date. |
| Renewals | Not possible for digital items, nor can they be requested again within a 12 month period for copyright reasons. | May be possible. They do not auto-renew like your UoG items so email us at illpqd@glos.ac.uk a few working days before the due date and we'll contact the lender to request. |
| Charges | None within your entitlement limit. |
None within your entitlement limit unless you do not collect an ILL you have ordered. Please take care of your inter-library loan as if an item is not returned for any reason you will be liable for the cost of replacement. |
The British Library’s EThOS service is still suffering from their cyber-attack. Please try the CORE site instead to search for theses from UK universities that may be available to download free of charge.