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
  • 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:

This option allows you to place physical item requests on any of the following items:

  • Items which are on loan to another borrower
  • Items which are stored at the University Collections Facility and at some other locations where access is restricted
  • Items which are held at other University of Edinburgh Library sites

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. 


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


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