Document Delivery Services

Document delivery services offer an interesting alternative to conventional inter-library loans. Delivery times are often shorter because these services deliver the literature you order directly to your workplace. However, document delivery services are subject to charges – in most cases, the costs are considerably higher than the fees for an inter-library loan.

You can request the literature you need online. Depending on the type of media, your orders will be delivered via mail or fax; due to copyright regulations, electronic delivery via e-mail or FTP can only be offered in exceptional cases. In most cases, you can choose between a regular and an urgent request according to how fast you need the material.

Selected Delivery Services

• Subito
  Document delivery service operating throughout Germany; provides books and periodicals; registration required; you will receive an invoice with your delivery.
  
• GetInfo
  Portal including a meta-search engine covering databases with scientific and technical information as well as a document delivery service. Participating institutions: TIB Hannover (German National Library of Science and Technology), FIZ Karlsruhe, FIZ Technik und FIZ Chemie (specialist information centres for science and technology).
  
• Ingenta
  Online platform (merged with UnCover); covers about 25,000 periodicals, including about 5,000 electronic titles; contains a comprehensive article database in which searches are free; articles are delivered via the pay-per-view system or by fax/Ariel.
  
• British Library / Document Supply Centre
  Provides photocopies from periodicals and books from the UK; books that are lent will only be delivered to libraries; you will receive an invoice with your delivery.
  
• German National Library of Medicine
  The ZB Med (German National Library of Medicine) provides photocopies of articles from their comprehensive collection of 15,000 biomedical periodical titles, 7,200 of which they currently subscribe to.
  Offers a “Super-Fax-Service” for deliveries within 2 hours.
  
• Infotrieve
  Portal for searching for periodicals and contents of periodicals of all disciplines with a delivery service for entire texts, including a "Rush and Panic Service", i.e. delivery within 4 hours if an order reaches Infotrieve before 15:00.
  
• eBooks on Demand
  Document delivery service (EU project) for books that have appeared between 1501 and 1900. Fees will be charged for use of this service. So far, 26 libraries in Germany and other countries have joined this network.