FindIt@Bham

Due to the cyber-attack on the British Library in October 2023, many of their services remain unavailable. Where possible, we will satisfy your request via alternative routes, but please be aware there may be an adverse impact on our inter-library loan service (March 2024).

If material is not held in any University of Birmingham library, we will try to find a copy for you from another library. Please confirm we do not hold the item already using FindIt@Bham before placing a request. The service is open to all current University of Birmingham students and staff, who are all able to place inter-library loan requests free of charge. The Interlibrary Loans webpage contains information about when charges might be applied for uncollected or unconsulted inter-library loan items.

• You can request books, articles, reports, conference proceedings, international theses as well as other materials.
• Journal articles are generally emailed to you as PDFs.
• You can only order one article per journal issue or one chapter per book due to copyright regulations. 
• Some older or more expensive items may be loaned to us for consultation use in the library only. 
• Requests for most UK Doctoral theses are usually made via the British Library service EThOS. This service remains unavailable following the cyber-attack on the British Library in October 2023. Contact the Document Supply Team to discuss your request options for UK theses. The Tracing Theses guide contains information on other resources that can be used to search and access openly available theses both in the UK and around the world.

For more information about interlibrary loans see the Document supply and interlibrary loans webpage.

The 'Using FindIt@Bham to place an interlibrary loan request' video tutorial outlines the process for placing a request via FindIt@Bham:

• Go to FindIt@Bham and login, using your university account.
• Perform a search to check that we don't already have a copy of the item you need.
• On the results screen select Expand beyond Library Resources on the left-hand side.

• Your search will be matched with results outside our collections, as well as those we do hold. The link No online full text, check for print journal/book confirms that we don’t have this article in our electronic collections.
• Select the No online full text, check for print journal/book link. 
• A menu appears. Select the link Request an interlibrary loan. This takes you to the Interlibrary Loan Request form.
• The form has been pre-populated with details of the article. Pre-populating the form means you’ll get your item quicker.
• Read the copyright declaration and tick the box to confirm you understand the copyright statement and will agree to abide by it.
• Select the Request button.

If the item you need isn’t returned when you select Expand beyond Library Resources, select the Interlibrary Loan Request tab in the FindIt@Bham ribbon and complete the form.

After submitting your request, you will be able to view the details in your library account on FindIt@Bham. Your request will be processed by our Document Supply Team, who will get in touch with you if they need more information.

You will receive an email either containing a link to an electronic version of an article/chapter or informing you that the item is ready to collect.