Borrowing books

• Undergraduates and taught postgraduates: 20 items
• Staff and researchers: 30 items
• SCONUL Access and non-LJMU borrowers: 5 items (Standard Loan items only)

The standard loan period is 7 days. Items will be automatically renewed for you unless the title has been requested by another reader.

Most borrowers with disabilities are entitled to borrow for 14 days. This entitlement is arranged by the Disability Advice Team. Once agreed, the extended loan period is given automatically when items are issued or renewed.

Your items will be renewed automatically unless:

• your account expires
• you have long overdue loans
• a ‘block’ is on your account and LJMU need to contact you
• someone else requests the items

If we cannot renew your items for any of the reasons above, we will send an email requesting that you return them.

You can also check your own library account online or chat with us via Ask the Library.

We no longer charge library fines. Instead we block borrowing for anyone who keeps an item overdue that has been requested by another user.

If any of your loans is requested by another user (or 'recalled') you will no longer be able to renew it and you will receive a notice to your LJMU email account to inform you of this recall.

Any items kept overdue by 15 days will be made 'lost' by the system and the replacement cost of the book will be charged to your account.

Please let us know if you lose an item or if it is stolen. We will charge you the replacement cost. If an item is damaged while it is on loan to you, we may apply a charge.

To register for the postal loan service, please contact us stating your name, your LJMU username and distance learning course. Once we confirm your details, we will activate postal loans on your library account and let you know when this has been done.

Once you have registered for the postal loans service, you can request up to five books at one time.

1. To request an item, go to Discover
2. Search for the item you require
3. Use the Request Item link and, when prompted, enter your LJMU username and password
4. Select Home Address as your pickup/delivery location

If you experience any problems when placing requests via Library Discover, please contact us using the details below. Please send us the details of the book/s you wish to borrow and your course details.

Chat: Ask the Library
Online form:  Complete the online help form

If the book/s you request are in stock and available for loan they will be sent to you, free of charge, within five working days. If we have any problems obtaining your requested items, we will let you know.

You are responsible for the cost of return postage and for making sure that the books reach us. You are therefore advised to use a secure method of posting. Please return your books in good time to make sure they arrive back before the due date.

You should preferably return items to the site the library book was sent from. This is also referred to as the home site. The home site will be shown. However, if the items have come from different sites, you may return them all to the same one. See Libraries for address details.

Standard loan items will initially be issued for a period of two weeks.

Library renewals are carried out automatically by the system if there is nothing preventing a renewal. 

We can only post books to students registered on distance learning courses who are living in the United Kingdom.

Postal loans are only possible for our Standard Loan items. 

Reference books

We are willing to photocopy up to one chapter of reference works (within current UK copyright law).

Journals, newspapers and other serials

We are able to photocopy one article from a single issue of a journal (within current UK copyright law). Also, check E-journals to see whether the journal you are interested in is available electronically.