Document Supply: Accessing Material from Other Libraries

Requests should be submitted using the Request Inter-Library Loan facility on the Library Catalogue. You will be prompted to enter your LJMU Username and Password before being able to place your request.

It is important you check that your home/department and email address details are correct as we will use these to send you any notifications. Any corrections that are required should be made as instructed in your Library Account.

Please complete the web form giving as many details as you can. Delays can result if you omit any details or quote an incomplete or inaccurate reference. It is helpful if you can supply the source of reference (details of the book, bibliography, journal article or web page from which you took the details about your request) or any other information that you think may be relevant or useful.

We will need the following information:

• For an article from a journal: journal title, the relevant year, the volume and/or part number, page numbers, article author and article title.
• For a book: surname and initials of the author(s) and/or editor(s), full title, publisher, date of publication. If you only require a copy of a chapter from the book we  will also need the chapter title, author and page numbers.
• For a thesis: (Some UK doctoral theses are available to download free of charge from the British Library Electronic Theses Online Service - EThOS  and document supply requests should normally only be submitted for non-doctoral theses e.g. a MPhil): the author's name, title of thesis, type and date of degree and the awarding University details.  
• For a conference paper: conference title, date and venue of the conference, sponsor, author of paper and title (a source of reference is especially helpful here).

In order to submit your request you must read and acknowledge the copyright restrictions that accompany each web request form. If you have made a request for a photocopy or a SED document of an article or book chapter you will be prompted to print off and sign the copyright declaration (this to comply with current copyright regulations and does not apply to loan requests). This can then either be handed in at the Hub in any of the LRCs, posted directly to the Document Supply office (see address below) or faxed to us on 0151 231 3049. We will not be able to process your request until this has been received. 

You will be able to monitor the progress of your submitted requests through your Library Account.

If you need help, please ask at the Hub in your LRC or contact the Document Supply team. 

Secure Electronic Delivery

The British Library Secure Electronic Delivery (SED) service is method of delivering articles directly to your desktop. Documents are delivered in electronic format as an Adobe PDF. We can only provide this service if the item is available electronically from the British Library. If not, a paper copy will be supplied in the usual way.

To open documents obtained via the SED service you must have Adobe Digital Editions installed on your own PC/laptop. This is freely available from the Adobe Digital Editions website.

Please be aware that public access PCs across the University and in the LRCs are managed clients and as such you will not have sufficient administrative rights to be able to download and install Adobe Digital Editions software to them. Therefore you are strongly advised to make sure that you can open and read the Secure Electronic Delivery Test Document available from the British Library web site BEFORE making an SED request.

When you receive a document via SED you will be sent an e-mail from the British Library containing a web link to the document. Clicking on the link will download and open the document. The link is valid only for the first time it is used - you may not use it more than once.

Although the document is delivered electronically, you should print a copy of it when you first open it as you cannot retain the electronic copy for future use.

The link will remain valid for 30 days only once it appears in your inbox. If you do not open the document within the 30 days all rights to view and print it will expire and the link will no longer work. You will then need to re-submit your request.

If you wish to receive your request by Secure Electronic Delivery, and you are confident that you will be able to open it on your PC, please select Secure Electronic Delivery (SED) from the Preferred Media options on the web form when making your request.

For further information about the SED service please see the British Library Secure Electronic Delivery FAQs.

How long will my request take?

Loans, photocopies and secure electronic delivery documents are supplied under the British Library's standard service. Standard service turnaround time is usually between 2-5 working days, with most requests being processed within 48 hours of receipt. However delivery times cannot be guaranteed and you are advised to make any requests in plenty of time of any deadline that you may have. This is especially important for more obscure item requests, or, if the British Library cannot supply the request, we have to apply to a number of different library locations. If your request is urgent (i.e. needed within two weeks) please contact the Document Supply team before submitting your request.

Receiving, renewing and returning document supply loans

Photocopy requests will normally be sent directly to your term-time home/department address, and SED requests to your email address. These copies are for your retention and do not need to be returned to us. You will be sent either an email or printed notification when your loan request has arrived. You should allow two working days before going to your home LRC to collect the item from the Hub.

Your home LRC will depend on which Campus your school/department is based:

Books must be collected in person and you will need your University Card in order for them to be issued. They will appear on your library record but do not count towards your total allocation of  loans from our own stock. The arrival slips which accompany document supply loan books contain important information and should not be removed. Loans are usually issued for up to six weeks but this can vary depending on the supplying library. 

On occasion loans may be supplied in alternative formats e.g. microfilm/microfiche etc. These may be read using microfilm and microfiche readers available in the LRCs. Also some items may be supplied to us on a Library Use only basis. These items will be kept at the Hub and will be available for consultation within the library during manned service hours only. They will be issued each time you wish to consult them. They will be returned to the Document Supply team only when you have confirmed that you no longer require them or they become due for return.

Theses obtained via Document Supply (not EThOS) are usually supplied as printed bound copies which must be consulted in your home LRC and may not be removed from the premises. You must sign any copyright declaration that accompanies the thesis. This is usually a requirement of the supplying library. Each time you consult the thesis it will be issued to you before it can be taken away from the Hub.

Loans may be renewed up to 3 times (at the supplying library's discretion and subject to early recall). If an item may not be renewed, this will usually be indicated and notified to you by email or printed notification. Please ask at the LRC or call the Document Supply team if you wish to renew an item. Loans should be returned to the LRC you borrowed them from by the due date and should be returned to the Hub and not via Self Service Return. Lost items and items and late returns may incur British Library charges of up to £129 (plus VAT) which will be charged to your Library Account. We rely on the goodwill of the libraries from whom we borrow on your behalf and this may be withdrawn at any time for persistent late returns.

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online Service is a new service managed by the British Library giving you free online access to UK Doctoral theses of those Higher Education institutions that have signed up to participate in the scheme. Liverpool John Moores University is a contributing member. You can search for all the 250,000 UK theses titles listed in the British Library catalogue and download any of the 38,000 full-text theses that are currently available in EThOS.

Please note: this service has replaced the British Library British Thesis Service, and microfilmed theses are therefore no longer available through the Document Supply Centre.

To read or download theses you must first register with EThOS and you must also accept the terms and conditions of use before downloading a thesis. This protects the rights of the author or other rights owners.

If the thesis you require is already available in full-text you will be able to download it immediately free of charge. If it is not available you will be able to request it through EThOS who will try to obtain and digitise it for you. You will be informed by email when the digital version is available for download. If EThOS report that the thesis cannot be made available electronically you will be able to submit a document supply request for it and we will try to borrow a printed-bound copy directly from the awarding institution's library. However this may not always be possible depending on the awarding institution's thesis lending policy.

The majority of Higher Education institutions participating in the scheme have agreed to fund the digitisation of their theses in support of the Open Access initiative. However some institutions may not have the budget for this and you will be asked to fund digitisation of theses from these institutions if you are the first requestor. Once a thesis has been digitised it is available for free download thereafter.  

Location and contacts

If you have any further queries regarding the Document Supply service or requests that you may have made please contact the team by email or telephone.

Document Supply Team
Aquinas Building
Ground Floor, Room GF07
Maryland Street

Liverpool L1 9DE

Please Note: we are unable to attend to personal callers.

share was this page helpful?