Requesting Material
The Healthcare Library can supply books and articles for work-related purposes from within the Healthcare Library network, and from the British Library via Inter-Library Loan.
Requests are supplied free of charge.
Depending on where your requests are supplied from, you may be allowed to make multiple copies, share with other HSC colleagues and store documents on a secure HSC network. Further details are available under the Copyright section below or from library staff.
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Making a Request
You can request books and articles free of charge via the online Place Request facility.
Unfortunately requests cannot be taken by telephone or email due to copyright restrictions. This service only applies to HSC members. HSC students are not eligible to make requests through the Inter-Library Loan service.
- How long will it take?
Once received by the Library, a request will be actioned within 3 working days.
Articles supplied from our own stock, or via Inter-Library Loan, should normally be emailed to you within 2 working days.
Books can take longer, and can vary from under a week for straightforward requests, to several months for material which is on loan, or is harder to obtain.
The Healthcare Library will contact you to keep you informed about any delays, but please don’t hesitate to contact us about your request at any stage.
- Receiving Books and Articles
Receiving Books: Depending on your work address, you will either
- receive an email to collect the item from your local Healthcare Library branch
- or, the item will be posted to your work address
Receiving Articles:- articles supplied from Healthcare Library stock will be emailed to you as a PDF attachment
- Articles received via inter-library will, for the most part, also be emailed to you as a PDF attachment.
- articles supplied via the British Library will also be emailed to you but you will need to be registered for the British Library On Demand Service in order to access and download them.
- British Library Articles
In order to access your first article from the British Library, you will need to register with the British Library On Demand Service.
When your requested article is ready, you will receive an email from Sender: noreply@bldss.bl.uk with an active link to a document download page. Click on the link and follow the instructions to download your document.
Access to this link will cease after 30 days. Library staff will not be able to recover the article for you after this period.
Viewing the document does not mean that you have downloaded it. Please ensure to download and save it to retain access for up to 3 years from the date of supply.
- Copyright
A CLA licence covers copying material in the Health Service in Northern Ireland. Articles from the Healthcare Library stock and the British Library are supplied to you under this CLA licence. However articles supplied from other institutions are not covered by the CLA licence and are subject to other copying restrictions. Library staff will advise you as to what you are able to do with the requested article.
Under the CLA licence, you are able to
- make further copies for other HSC colleagues in Northern Ireland
- share your copy with your HSC colleagues in Northern Ireland
- store your own copy of the article
- store a copy of the article on a secure HSC network, but not on the internet
Further information about what you can copy can be found on the CLA website.
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Help and Contacts
Queries should be referred to the Inter-Library Loan department in the Healthcare Library branches at the Royal Victoria Hospital, QUB Medical Biology Centre, Altnagelvin Area Hospital, Antrim Area Hospital and Craigavon Area Hospital. Full contact details can be found here.
Alternatively, follow the link to access the Problem Resolving Guide, available through Queen’s University Belfast, or access Healthcare Library FAQs.