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Inter-Library Loans

Inter-Library Loans (ILL) is a system which allows you to obtain material from other libraries which is not held here at Aston. We can normally obtain journal articles, books, conference papers or reports from anywhere in the world.

Please check the Library catalogue first to find out if the item is in stock here.

Aston staff and researchers can order an ILL online via their own Library record http://library.aston.ac.uk/patroninfo.  You will need to log in to your record with your Aston username and password, then select the link to 'Place an Inter-Library Loan Request.'  
Journal articles will be supplied by email, so please read this information before proceeding with an Inter Library loan request.

Students will need to complete an Inter-Library Loan application form. You can download forms from our web site, or collect them from the Library. There are three different forms

  • for books or reports

  • for conference papers

  • for journal articles ( If you need more than one article from a specific year/month, you will need to order the whole issue of the journal, due to copyright restrictions)

Please complete as much information as possible - some essential details are required

  • Books - Author, Title, Date and Publisher
  • Journal articles - Title of journal, date, volume, page numbers and author and title of the article
  • Conference papers - Title of conference, date of conference, publisher of conference, page numbers of paper and author and title of paper

Please ask at the Help desk if you need help in completing the form.  Always give details of your source of reference on the form.
Remember you need to sign the copyright declaration on the form.
In line with the EU Directive on Copyright every person must sign a declaration that any photocopy supplied is required for private study or research that is not for a commercial purpose. Copies required for a commercial purpose are subject to payment of a copyright fee.

Undergraduate, and some taught postgraduate, students will require a counter-signature from their project supervisor before a request can be accepted in the Library.  

Requests take approximately ten days to supply. 
It is not possible to guarantee delivery, or to say precisely when an item will be supplied.

Notification
When your book/journal is available for collection, you will be sent an email to your Aston email address. Photocopies will be sent to your post tray in the School and you are able to keep these.

Loans and Renewals

Book/journal loans are for approximately 5 weeks, but are subject to recall. 

Please ensure that you return the item/s you have borrowed by the due date otherwise you will be liable to pay:

  • Aston University LIS overdue fines, plus

  • a fine from the British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC). This could be £4.15 (an automatic renewal fee) or £141.60 if the book is overdue and could not be renewed 

If you require an item for longer than the normal loan period, then please come to the Library Help desk so that we can apply for an extension. If this is granted, the renewal fee for BLDSC supplied items is £4.15 but other libraries may have different charges.

Please note that some materials are reference only and cannot be taken out of the Library building - these conditions are imposed by the lending library and we have to adhere to them.