If a request cannot be completed, you will receive a message with the reason in your library account.
Interlibrary Loan
Everyone who has a valid library card of the University of Stuttgart Library can place requests via interlibrary loan.
Items that are not in the holdings of the University of Stuttgart Library can be requested via interlibrary loan.
Please note that one interlibrary loan request is required per desired item.
- Books and journals that are in the University of Stuttgart Library’s holdings.
- Items that are available at bookstores at a low price (approx. €15 at the moment).
- Complete journal volumes of recent date (article copies are possible).
- Complete loose-leaf collections, patent specifications, DIN standards, TV recordings.
- Master’s, bachelor’s, and other theses (except doctoral theses).
- Items or exceptional size or weight.
- Items that haven’t been published yet and items that are still in the process of acquisition at libraries.
- E-books (partial copies are possible).
- Copies from newspapers and popular magazines.
- Copies for commercial use.
Please take note:
Items that are marked as borrowable in library catalogs may nevertheless not be available via interlibrary loan (e.g. valuable literature, bad condition of books, literature that is used frequently on site …). The owning library will decide about delivery and loan modalities.
Special requests (e.g. „only borrowable item“, „renewal of loan period should be possible“ …) cannot be considered due to the automated ordering process.
The fee for an interlibrary loan request is €1.50 at the moment. This fee has to be paid regardless of whether the request can be completed successfully.
As soon as you have submitted a request, the fee will be automatically booked to your user account.
In case there are additional costs (e.g. in the context of an international interlibrary loan), you will be notified beforehand.
Interlibrary loan requests for books are usually completed within 1 to 2 weeks.
They make take longer if the requested item is on loan at several libraries. In case of requests for articles, shorter delivery times of 1 to 5 days can often be achieved.
If you are not able to find the requested item when searching via the interlibrary loan portal or you have difficulties submitting the search, please use an empty request form. To do so, you click the button „No correct hits?“ and enter the bibliographic information as complete as possible to enable quick processing of your interlibrary loan request.
We will notify you as soon as your item has arrived. You will be informed via email if your current email address is entered at „My account“. If this isn’t the case, you will be notified via letter.
The items are available for pick-up for the entire loan period (usually 1 month).
The loan period is set differently by the individual lending libraries. It is usually 1 month. The borrowed item must be returned at the end of the loan period.
Loan period renewals for interlibrary loan items can be requested in the catalog via „My account“. If the request is not approved by the lending library, we will notify you by email or mail.
Please note that loan period renewals for interlibrary loan items are only possible under reserve.
In this case please turn directly to the staff of the interlibrary loan department who can cancel the multiple requests, if applicable.
In principle, we do not offer delivery service for requested items.
Exception: At the moment we mail copy requests to the address listed in the user account.
An interlibrary loan fee is a processing, not a completion fee. It cannot be refunded if the requested document could not be provided.
Literature that is not listed in Germany can be requested from foreign libraries. Costs for requests from abroad can vary and have to be borne in full by the user. If you wish to place a request from abroad, please turn directly to the interlibrary loan department of the University of Stuttgart Library.