**Detta blogginlägg är även tillgängligt på svenska**
For us at Linköping University Library, it is always our aim to offer all books, journals and other publications that are needed by students and researchers at LiU. Sadly, it is impossible to have absolutely everything in our collections. But if we don’t have a print or electronic publication, we can usually provide it as an interlibrary loan, i. e. acquire it from another library.
You can apply for an interlibrary loan of books or order print copies of articles using the forms on this page:
https://liu.se/en/article/fjarrlan-inkop
When they have arrived, books on interlibrary loan are collected at the library enquiry desk. Just ask us, and we will borrow you the book. Articles are either copied or printed. LiU researchers will get their print copy delivered to their office post box on campus. Students collect their article copies at the library enquiry desk.
Interlibrary loans are free of charge for both LiU employees and LiU students. An interlibrary book loan may be associated with a fee for students if the book must be ordered from a library outside of Sweden or the Nordic countries.
And what do we do if we get a request for a very rare item, say an Italian article about butterflies published in 1872?
Sometimes, you can find it simply using Google. An insane amount of publications are in fact freely available online! Some cases might be a bit trickier. We use an array of providers and library catalogues to locate and order material from all parts of the globe. Usually, we order through Libris – the Swedish national library catalogue. We also get many deliveries from German article databases. Sometimes we need to dig deeper, and perhaps order that rare 1872 article about butterflies from a library in Italy that is the only library that can provide us with a copy.
You are welcome to use our interlibrary service to obtain books or articles needed for you research or studies. We are here for you!
Image from Pixabay
by Ellinor Krutholm
translated by Peter Igelström