Can I request an item?

Information about requesting material in DiscoverEd

Staff and matriculated students of the University of Edinburgh can use DiscoverEd to make the following types of request:

  • Request items which are on loan to other borrowers
  • Request items which are stored at the University Collections Facility and at some other locations where access is restricted [Please see service update below] 
  • Request items which are held at other University of Edinburgh Library sites 
  • Request scans of printed materials held by the Library
  • Request items which are not owned by the Library, via Interlibrary Loan

Requesting options are only visible to authorised users (staff and current matriculated students of the University) and are only displayed when the user is signed in to DiscoverEd.  

If there are request options available for an item these will display in the Find It In Library section of the full display.   

There are three types of request option which you may see in DiscoverEd, depending on the item being viewed:

Request this item

This option allows you to request items which are on loan to another borrower.

Requesting an item which is on loan

This option is also used to request material from the University Collections Facility, other University of Edinburgh Library sites and some other locations where access is restricted. 

Service Update: General Collections at the University Collections Facility 

In order to prioritise the provision of library resources for teaching for the new academic year in 2024/25, request services for General Collection items located at the UCF are being paused from 5 August to 31 October 2024. While UCF request services are unavailable it may be possible for our Interlibrary Loans service to provide access to required items, please refer to the ILL webpage for more details.

Further information on requesting material stored in the University Collections Facility (UCF), which includes General Collections and Heritage Collections.

Requesting material and delivery times [for material held in the University Collections Facility]

Scan and Deliver (digitised extract not full copy)

This option allows you to request scans of one chapter of a book or 10% (whichever is the greater), or one article from a journal issue. 

Scan & Deliver advice and guidance

Interlibrary Loan Request

This option allows you to request material which is not owned by the Library.

Request an Interlibrary Loan advice and guidance