Interlending and Document Delivery Service
Policy Information
Who is Eligible
Interlibrary loans and the supply of documents are available for work-related research and teaching of La Trobe University staff and postgraduate students in the following categories:
- academic staff and their research assistants
- postgraduate students (PhD, Masters)
- fourth year, Graduate Diploma and honours students
- general staff (for items related to their university work).
What Can be Requested
The following materials not held in La Trobe University Library may be requested:
- books, reports, conference proceedings and theses
- rare books on microform
- newspapers (if on microform)
- photocopies of specific journal articles, chapters out of books, reports, conference proceedings etc. (see Copyright)
- patents
- standards.
Libraries usually will not lend:
- entire issues and volumes of journals, newspapers, maps
- reference books, rare books
- theses and dissertations (copies usually available for purchase).
If Material is Unavailable in Australia?
Requests for photocopies of articles and papers in journals, conference proceedings, chapters, newspapers etc. will be sent automatically overseas.
Requests for the loan of books that are unavailable in Australia will be returned to the requester for authorisation of payment for some of the considerable costs of borrowing from overseas (see Charges).
How Long Will it Take?
Documents are usually received in 2 - 4 days and loans are usually received in 1 - 2 weeks. Overseas loans take 2 - 4 weeks. Circumstances such as the item being on loan or missing from a library may necessitate our asking a number of libraries before we can obtain the item required. Enquire about the Rush Service for urgent requests (see Charges).
Quotas
Annual quotas will apply for the number of fulfilled requests. Intercampus and CARM requests are not included in the quota:
- PhD and Masters Students 100 requests
- Honours, Graduate Diploma & Final 4th Year Students 25 requests
A charge will be made for requests received in excess of the allocated quota.
Charges
Requests which are sent to other libraries incur a charge to the Library. This varies from the standard charge of $13.20 of Australian libraries to some much higher charges of overseas libraries. The Library pays charges up to a cost of $20.
Charges are passed onto the person or academic unit when:
- A journal article, book chapter, or copy of a thesis costs more than $20
- An item is requested Rush. The Australian levy is $13.20, plus courier charges; or the equivalent "Urgent" charge of an overseas library will be passed on
- A loan of a book from an overseas library is requested. There will be a minimum charge of $20 with the charge based on the cost charged by the overseas library. The Library pays the return registered airmail postage
- Special materials such as manuscripts are requested
- Requests received in excess of the allocated quota. These would be charged at the standard Australian charge of $13.20 or at the rates listed above where applicable.
Before the Interlending and Document Delivery Service will proceed with the above requests, they must be notified who is to be charged for the costs involved. If the charges are to be paid by a School or from a research fund the account number must be provided. Please enter departmental account code in 'special instructions'.
Personal payment of charges must be made when the book or item is collected from the library.
Copyright
A request for a photocopy or a microform copy must be made in accordance with the Australian Copyright Act. Under the Act libraries are authorised to supply a photocopy or other reproduction as long as the copy is not used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship or research and that the amount that is copied is in accordance with copying limits laid down by the Act. These "fair dealing" limits are as follows:
- Periodical articles. One article per issue of a periodical. Two or more articles per issue if those articles are on exactly the same subject.
- Other published works 10% or one chapter of a published work, if the work is longer than 10 pages.
The Library reserves the right to refuse to accept a request for a copy if it believes that fulfilling the request would involve violation of the copyright law.
Intercampus Service
An intercampus loan of a book can be requested using the online form. Journal articles can be requested online through ILDDS.
Loan Period and Conditions of Borrowing
All interlibrary loans are made at the discretion of the lending library which may choose not to lend or copy any item. Some libraries will lend material only on the condition that it is used in a library building.
The lending library assigns the loan period to books and microforms. Usually loan periods range between two and four weeks. Please ensure that items you have borrowed are returned by the due date. If you require more time to use an item a renewal must be requested before the item is due for return. Renewals, however, are not always permitted by the lending library. Items cannot be renewed if they are already overdue.
Collection of Material and Returning Loans
Email notification will be sent to you when a book has been received. It can then be collected at the Inquiry desk. Some loans come in microform which may be viewed on microform readers in the library.
Documents are delivered electronically to your desktop.
Return all interlibrary loans to the Inquiry desk. Never return interlibrary loans through the normal return chutes.