Document Delivery Services: Requesting
Items

Before placing a request, you are advised to check whether the item is readily available through the Library and/or online.

For journal articles:

• Search for the journal title on the Library catalogue for online holdings.
• Alternatively, you can check for online holdings using eJournals A-Z , which includes any embargo information on recent issues.
• In some cases you might find that an article is freely available by searching for it by title on the web.

For books:

• Search for the book in the Library catalogue.
• Check the BONUS+ catalogue and, if the book is available, place a direct request. If you haven’t heard about BONUS+, see the FAQ section below.

For Australian theses:

• Search for the thesis in Trove (the National Library of Australia catalogue of Australian library holdings) to see if it is available online. Trove harvests information about theses from the institutional repositories from Australian universities.
• It's also worthwhile checking for online access to theses by searching the web or the website of the university where the thesis was submitted.

Providing as much information as possible will assist the Document Delivery staff in verifying the citation and locating possible suppliers.

• Title of journal: Try to give the full title, but if you only have an abbreviated title, enter it as is.

• Source of citation: If you suspect the item may be obscure or not widely held, sometimes it can be useful to let us know where you found the citation, e.g. a citation for an unpublished report from the catalogue of a special library.

• Additional information: You can use this for either entering any information not entered elsewhere about the item that will assist us to identify it, or any special instructions about the nature of the request, e.g. ‘only the accompanying map is required’ or ‘please treat as urgent.’

• DOI:  A DOI is a system for identifying content objects in the digital environment. Including a DOI, where available, allows staff to quickly verify the citation and process your request. DOIs or persistent links are becoming increasingly common on journal websites and library databases.

• Cancel if not filled by: Only use this field if you need to receive the item within a short time-frame, bearing in mind that items are only processed weekdays. A better way to indicate any urgency is via the 'Additional information' field and/or by notifying the Document Delivery Service after submitting the request.

I want to request a DVD [or kit] but there’s no form for it. What should I do?

Use the book form and indicate that it is a DVD [or kit] after the title. Adapt the fields to provide as much information as you can to best describe the item. It’s not necessary to include information on where to obtain it, but include that information if you think it will be of assistance to us.

What is BONUS+?

The university library is a member of the BONUS+ reciprocal borrowing scheme. The BONUS+ catalogue allows you to do a single search across the holdings of all of the member libraries (13 members across Australia and NZ giving you access to over 7.2 million items). If the item you are looking for is in the catalogue, instead of filling out an interlibrary loan form, you can request it directly by using your staff or student ID card and selecting the campus library you want the item sent to. If you are a Masters/PhD student and need the item posted to you, select Eligible Direct Delivery.

There seems to be a book missing from the collection. Can I place an ILL request for it?

Sure. You may want to make a note that the item is missing from the shelves in the 'Additional information' field. We'll hunt for it and if we can't find it we'll place an ILL for it and arrange for the catalogue record to be updated so that others aren't looking for it too. We may withdraw it from the collection and/or arrange for a new (or updated) copy to be purchased.

Requests are placed through your My Library record (where you go to view and renew loans)*

*Authorised special requests are via a separate form 

Requests can also be placed using QuickSearch and a number of the Library's individual databases.

When checking the Find it! menu for an item in a search result, if there's no full text availability there'll be a prompt to Request document via Document Delivery Services. 

The form will automatically populate with the information from the citation. Submit the request and then return to your results list to continue browsing.

Phone: (03) 5327 9597

Email: docdel@federation.edu.au