Information on the interlibrary loan

The interlibrary loan offers you, as a user of the ULB Münster, the opportunity to request literature that you cannot find in the Münster-based catalogues of another library conveniently via the internet. Requested books are delivered to the ULB Münster where you can pick them up. Articles are transmitted as a download link. In any case, you will be informed about the arrival of the publications by email.

Costs and delivery time

The costs are 1.50 EUR per request. When placing an interlibrary loan request, your fee account will be debited with that amount – regardless of whether a delivery can take place or not. The costs for official requests of academic staff of the University of Münster are invoiced centrally.
The fees must be paid within 4 weeks.

Copies of less than 40 pages are delivered without additional charge. The standard setting for the cost assumption declaration in case of larger requests is 8 EUR; up to this amount, the delivery library will complete the request without any further request and send an invoice for it. If higher costs arise, the delivering library may initially send a cost estimate. Alternatively, you can already reject the assumption of costs when requesting (0 EUR) or enter a higher amount.

Articles are sent as a download link by email. In exceptional cases due to copyright or licence law, the delivery can occur in paper form.

If the literature is available in North Rhine-Westphalia, it will usually be delivered within one week. Otherwise, you have to expect delivery periods of 2 – 3 weeks.

If you need books and articles very quickly, the document delivery service Subito can be a useful alternative to the interlibrary loan.

Book request – step by step

  • Click on the interlibrary loan book request link to get to the login screen for book requests. Log in with your university ID or login ID and your password.
  • Step 1 of 3: Find document
    Enter one or two meaningful keywords from the title (without special characters) and the author's last name in the search mask and click on the search button. The search is carried out firstly in KatalogPlus and secondly in the German union catalogues.
  • Step 2 of 3: Selecting the desired document
    If the title is not available locally, you can request it via interlibrary loan. Search for the desired title in the hit list and select whether you would like to request the whole book for loan or only a section as a copy.
    If the titles are identical, please select the hit with the most ownership records.
    If the title you are looking for consists of several volumes, click on the search volumes button to display the volumes belonging to the book title. You must then order each volume individually.
  • Step 3 of 3: Request information
    If you want to request the complete volume for borrowing, you may now include further information on the delivery conditions: whether you also agree to a different edition, whether you – if necessary – would like a reservation (if you select "No", the interlibrary loan will be cancelled if the book is not available), which pickup location (ULB Central Library, Medical Library, Social Sciences Branch Library) you prefer. Finally, click on the button "Order now".
    If you only request an article or a section from the book as a copy, you will find further information under "Journal article request", step 3.
  • If the message appears stating that the request was successful, you can look into your library account in KatalogPlus to check whether the request was registered. (Article requests are not included here.)
  • If you would like to place further interlibrary loan requests, click on the menu point "Inter-Library Loan / Books and Sections" in the navigation menu. Otherwise, end the session using the button "User number: log out" at the top right of the page.

Journal article request – step by step

  • The link interlibrary loan: journal article request will take you to the login screen for article requests. Log in with your university ID or login ID and your password.
  • Step 1 of 3: Search for the document
    First of all, search for the journal from which you want to request an article. For this purpose, enter keywords from the journal title. You may also search for the beginning of the title or for the whole title as a phrase (2nd search field). Then click "Search".
  • Step 2 of 3: Selection of the desired document
    Search for the desired journal title in the hit list and then click on "To ILL Order Form" (by clicking the title of the journal you will receive further bibliographic information and information about the holdings). Please note that the request system rejects interlibrary loans of journal volumes that are available in Münster.
  • Step 3 of 3: Request information
    Now, enter the data of the article (author, title, year, volume and issue, page references).
    An email address is mandatory, as the articles are sent by email as a download link. In exceptional cases under licence law, delivery may be made in paper form and a copy of the article will be provided to you at the loan desk of the ULB Central Library, the Medical Library or the Social Sciences Branch Library for pickup.
    As according to the regulation on interlibrary loan only up to 40 pages (in a few libraries only up to 20 pages) are copied free of charge, you should indicate which costs you accept for more extensive articles.
    The copy of the article may only be used for non-commercial private or scientific purposes. Please confirm this purpose by clicking the corresponding box.
  • By clicking "Order now", you conclude the request and receive a confirmation of your request with the corresponding request data including a transaction number. These article requests will not be included in your library account afterwards but can be called up via the interlibrary loan account.

 

Requesting of complete journal volumes

The link interlibrary loan: book request will take you to the login screen for book requests. Log in with your university ID or login ID and your password.
Now, search for the desired journal title. Regardless of the search results, go to the end of a hit page to the information box "Free (to be completed) Order". Only here appears the link "Free book order". Fill in the request form that opens up subsequently. Note "Ganzer Jahrgang gewünscht" / "Complete volume desired" in the author field. These journal volume requests are now further treated like book requests.

Requesting without record in the requesting database

If the title you are looking for is not listed in the database, you can enter the bibliographic data into a blank request form after the search. For this purpose, go to the end of a hit page to the information box "Free (to be completed) Order". Click on the link "Free book order", "Free order of a book section" or, for journal articles, "Free order of a journal article". Please consider that the processing and delivery of such a request may take longer because this request requires conventional supplementary processing.

Information about the requesting process

After the registration for the interlibrary loan, you also have access to your interlibrary loan account ("Fernleihkonto") that is displayed in the navigation menu "Inter-Library Loan". Here you can track your requests that are in circulation in electronic form. You will receive a list of your book requests under "Account: Books and Sections" and a list of your article requests under "Account: Journal Articles". You can see the requesting process for each request by clicking the title.

Notification

The ULB Münster will inform you by email as soon as the requested book or copy has arrived and is ready for pickup.
Requested books remain 4 weeks for pick-up and articles are available 4 weeks for download.

Loan period regarding book requests

The loan period varies according to the individual delivering libraries, 3 months maximum. The ULB Münster is bound to the conditions and requirements determined by the delivering libraries (such as the use of reading rooms or copy prohibition).

Which titles can you not request via interlibrary loan?

The provisions for the interlibrary loan in Germany are governed by the interlibrary loan regulation (LVO). Among other things, it also determines which publications are not included in the interlibrary loan. This concerns for example:

  • Literature that is present at the ULB Münster or at another publicly accessible local library. Exception: If the title is reported as a loss in a decentralised library of the University of Münster, an interlibrary loan can be made possible upon presentation of the filled in loss statement.
  • Works that can be found in a bookshop at a low price. This is explained by the fact that in this case the processing of the interlibrary loan would be more expensive than the purchase of the book. Currently, the price limit is at 15 Euro.
  • Works of particular value, especially of the 16th and 17th century. Furthermore, most libraries have excluded works from the interlibrary loan that were published before 1800. However, copies or microfilms can usually be made.
  • Reference works, loose-leaf editions, current issues of journals (copies of individual articles are possible).
  • Works in a poor state of conservation.
  • Articles from newspapers and from so-called consumer magazines (i. e. periodicals that mainly publish content that is not created in the context of (mainly publicly financed) educational and academic activities).

Diploma and master’s theses as well as examination papers can usually not be requested.
Austrian and French theses are usually never available in German libraries and can therefore be requested via international interlibrary loan.

For more recent literature, you can send an acquisition suggestion by email to the responsible subject expert.

Do you have any more questions?

In case of difficulties when placing the interlibrary loan request:
ulb@uni-muenster.de, Tel. +49 (0)251 83-24040

For information about the processing status of your request:
ulb@uni-muenster.de, Tel. +49 (0)251 83-29031