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Document Delivery Services - General Information

WHAT IS DOCUMENT DELIVERY SERVICES (DD)?

  • Document Delivery Services retrieve, copy, digitize and deliver materials that are "available" in VCU Libraries collections to VCU faculty, staff, students and some affiliates. This include retrieving books and other materials from storage, the VCU Libraries open collections, and materials from the electronic collections.

 

WHEN IS AN ITEM "AVAILABLE?"

  • Items are available when owned by VCU Libraries and can be retrieved within a reasonable amount of time from the collection by the user. Examples include items located in the Bound Journals, Current Journals, Government Documents, Microforms, Media, Reference, Reserves, Stacks, Special & Archive Collections.
  • Items located in one of VCU Libraries storage locations is not readily available to users. Library staff will retrieve these items for patrons.

 

WHAT ARE THE DELIVERY SERVICES OFFERED?

  • COPY SERVICE

Users may request that library owned materials be retrieved, scanned and delivered electronically. Copy Service is available to currently employed or enrolled VCU faculty, staff, students, Health System employees. Preceptors and Friends of the Library. This service is free to all users who request cross campus delivery of copies and who are eligible for Enhanced Services. This service is also free to any patron requesting materials located in storage (see Storage section below). A $5 fee is charged to patrons who are not eligible for Enhanced Services and requesting materials located in the collection in their home library.

To use this service, you must be a registered user of ILLiad. Use the ILLiad "Article" or "Book Chapter" request form. Select "Yes" on the request form to the question "Is this item available in VCU Libraries collection?"

Electronic copies remain accessible for 30 days from the date of posting. If, prior to this time, you no longer require the use of a copy, you may delete it. In the event you accidentally delete a copy prior to the 30 days, you may undelete or email us to have the copy reset.

  • BOOK AND MEDIA DELIVERY SERVICES

Book and Media delivery service is available to all VCU faculty, staff and students. Staff will retrieve and arrange delivery of books and other media held in collections of VCU Libraries. Books and media must be from the circulating collections. Users are subject to the same overdue fines, replacement fees, and damage fees as on-campus users. This service also includes the retrieval and delivery of books and other returnables that are not located in the home library on your campus (Cross Campus Delivery). For example, a book located at the Tompkins-McCaw Library will be retrieved and delivered to the Cabell Library for you to pick-up. If the item is located at your home library, thee is a $5 fee. All Book and Media Delivery Services are s free to users who are eligible for Enhanced Services.

To use this service, you must be a registered user of ILLiad. Use the appropriate ILLiad request from.  Make sure your ILLiad address is correct. Updating your address with VCU Enrollment and Personnel Services does not automatically update your address in ILLiad.

  • LOANSOME DOC

Loansome Doc is a method of ordering documents for users of the National Library of Medicine's PubMed®. When searching in PubMed®, a patron can order articles from a list of retrieved citations. Loansome Doc users must first establish an agreement with a medical library, such as VCU's Tompkins-McCaw Library, that uses DOCLINE, NLM's automated interlibrary loan request and referral system. You may register VCU Libraries as your DOCLINE library by completing the registration form.  Loansome Doc is available to Healthcare Professionals, residents of Virginia and corporations.  VCU faculty, staff, students and Health System Employees submit their requests via ILLiad.

For more information about Loansome Doc click here.

  • STORAGE ITEM RETRIEVAL

Copies of articles and chapters as well as entire works such as books and bound journals will be retrieved from storage. Copies will be scanned and delivered electronically. Books and bound journals will be placed at one of the circulation desks for the patron to pick-up. Books will be mailed to patrons who are eligible for Enhanced Services. A $5 fee is charged to mail books to patrons who are not eligible for Enhanced Services.

You may submit your request via the ILLiad system which is accessible from here as well as from the the library catalog "Request" button.

ARE THERE FEES FOR THIS SERVICE?

 

IS THERE A LIMIT ON THE NUMBER OF ITEMS REQUESTED?

  • VCU faculty, staff and students may have up to fifty (50) active requests in ILLiad.  The total includes requests for the delivery of copies and media, as well as interlibrary loans.
  • Requests are complete and cleared and no longer active when:
    • copies are delivered to the Web, mailed to an address or held for pick-up;
    • items (books or media) are returned to the VCU Libraries after being checked out by the user: or
    • a request is cancelled by the user or by the library staff.
  • As requests are cleared, library users can enter additional requests, up to 50 active requests.  Users can check the number of their active requests by viewing the activity summary on their ILLiad account's initial page (Outstanding Requests) and adding the number of interlibrary loans items they have checked out (View- Checked Out Items) through ILLiad.

 

HOW SOON WILL I RECEIVE REQUESTED MATERIALS?

  • For copies. 1-2 business days to process and receive your request.
  • For books, videos and other returnable items, 2 business days to process.
  • Some requests may take longer if the item is not on the shelf (checked-out, in use by another patron, etc.)

 

HOW CAN I SPEED UP THE PROCESS?

  • Check the library catalog first to determine if the item is available.
  • Submit your request on the appropriate request form.
  • Make sure your ILLiad account indicates your preferred delivery methods.
  • Make sure your ILLiad address is correct. Updating your address with VCU Enrollment and Personnel Services does not automatically update your address in ILLiad.

 

WHAT ARE THE DELIVERY METHODS?

  • Electronic Delivery  (PDF)
  • Hold for Pick Up at the circulation desks in the libraries
  • Mail to address
  • Copies will be delivered electronically when possible and feasible.

 

WHAT ARE THE LOAN PERIODS AND FINES?