Borrow or Request
If you need an article for your own research, first check Library Search to ensure the item is not already available from our own collections. If it isn't, you can make a request.
Key information:
- Articles will usually arrive within one week.
- Digital copies are charged at:
- £7.00 per item from a digital source.
- £12.00 per scanned item from a printed source.
- Postgraduate students may request up to ten digital articles or chapters per academic year until January 2025, paid for by the library.
- Doctoral research students may request up to ten interlibrary loans per academic year paid for by the University.
- Only one article from a journal issue can be requested. If you require more than this, please request the whole journal.
- For electronic delivery you will be sent an email with a link or attachment to your document. This link remains active for 30 days from the date of the original email from the supplying library.
- Your access may be less than 30 days due to Interlibrary Loan processing time.
- If you delay payment this will reduce the time the link remains active.
- Requests should be for research and private study only.
- Requests can take longer to process if full details are not supplied including ISBN.
If you need a book for your own research, first use Library Search to ensure the book is not already held in library stock, If it isn't, you can make a request.
Key information:
- Some items may only be available for use in the library.
- A loan of a book or journal issue is charged at £19.00.
- Doctoral research students may request up to ten interlibrary loans per academic year.
- To renew a loanable item, there is a further charge of £6.25.
- Please make sure you're around to collect the item as soon as it arrives.
- Requests can take longer to process if full details are not supplied including ISBN.
If you need a chapter for your own research, first check Library Search to ensure the item is not already available from the library. If it isn't, you can make a request.
Key information:
- Book chapters will usually arrive within one week.
- Digital copies are charged at:
- £7.00 per item from a digital source
- £12.00 per scanned item from a printed source
- Postgraduate students may request up to ten digital articles or chapters per academic year until January 2025, paid for by the library.
- Doctoral research students may request up to ten interlibrary loans per academic year.
- Only one chapter from a book can be requested. If you require more than this, please request the whole book.
- For electronic delivery you will be forwarded an email with a link to your document. This link remains active for 30 days from the date of the original email from the British Library.
- Your access may be less than 30 days due to Interlibrary Loan processing time.
- If you delay payment this will reduce the time the link remains active.
- Requests should be for research and private study only.
- Requests can take longer to process if full details are not supplied including ISBN.
London Met theses:
- The majority of London Met theses are available digitally via Library Search
- All print theses are held in a storeroom at Holloway Road Library and are for reference use within the Library only. Please ask at the Library Information Desk for the one you would like to look at.
UK and European theses:
Please note: there is continuing disruption to services provided by the British Library due to cyber-attack last year - read more information here
- EThOS is the British Library e-thesis online service. It offers free access to the full text of digitised UK Doctoral theses. Users will need to register to download a thesis but can search without registering. See EThOS FAQ for more information. If the thesis you require has not been digitised yet, the British Library will obtain it and digitise it, and you'll be informed when it is ready to download. In some cases, if you are the first person to request a thesis and so it has to be digitised for you, you may be asked to pay towards the costs of digitisation. Library Services will normally cover the cost of digitisation for London Met staff and students.
- DART-Europe E-theses Portal is a partnership of research libraries and library consortia who are working together to improve global access to European research theses.
Scan on Demand is a free service available to only current students and staff at the University.
It enables you to request and obtain scans of book chapters or journal articles from both Holloway and Aldgate Library print collections.
How does it work?
We will scan an extract from a book, or an article from a journal and send it to your London Met email. Please note copyright law prohibits us from scanning more than one chapter of a book or one article per issue of a journal. We cannot scan whole books.
How many scans can I request?
You can have three active requests at any one time.
How much does the scan service cost?
Nothing. This service is provided free of charge for London Met students and staff. However we cannot currently offer this service to alumni or partnership students.
How long will it take to get my scans?
This will depend on the availability of the book you want us to scan – it may be on loan. We will email you the PDF as soon as we can.
I did not receive my scan
We can tell you when we sent you the scan. Please check your Spam folder for an email from scanrequest@londonmet.ac.uk. Copyright law only allows us to send you the scan once.
Can I share my scanned document with others?
Your scanned document is for individual research use only, and may not be shared, distributed, or posted elsewhere online. The ordering process includes the copyright restrictions, which need agreement before the request can proceed. If other students at London Met need to use the same scan, please ask your lecturer to request a scan for the module reading list.
What if the item is not in the library?
If the item you wish to consult is not in our collections, you will need to request an interlibrary loan.
Please visit Special Collections to request scans from these collections.