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Inter library loans, library purchasing

Inter Library Loans

The Inter Library Loans service enables you to get items related to your academic studies that we do not have in our own stock. Article requests are usually delivered online within a few days. We may buy an eBook to meet a request.

The Library has been given a 95.3% Inter Library Loan borrowing success rate in the 2023-24 SCONUL Annual Library Statistics but in a small number of cases it is not possible to get requested material.

Manually complete the request form

Please use one of the following online forms:

Annual request allowances

The following annual request allowances are available for registered members of the University of Hull. Allowances run from 1st August to the 31st July for requests funded centrally (subject to budget availability):

  • Academic staff and all postgraduate students: requests allowed based on need
  • Undergraduate students: 6 requests
  • Retired members of the University: 15 requests
  • Associate borrowers: will need to pay the charges shown below per request

Charges

You are responsible for the following charges if you are over your quota (see above) or if you are an Associate Borrower: PDF - £9.00 Photocopies - £9.00 Loans - £12.50

Renew an Inter Library Loan book

To request a renewal of a book borrowed via the Inter Library Loan Service, and for all other enquiries, please email ill@hull.ac.uk

Library purchasing

The number of publications and information resources available globally increases every year and no library is able to physically hold or provide electronic access to all of them.

We focus on providing access to the essential and recommended titles on reading lists, plus a wide range of resources to support your academic needs and interests.

As your research becomes more specialised, you may need articles and books we don't hold in the Library. Don't worry - we can almost always still provide them for you.

How much does the Library spend each year?

The amount varies year-to-year but, as an example, in the 2020-21 academic year, the Library spent £1,867,424 on 'information resources'. Such resources include: print books, eBooks, eJournals, and subscriptions to databases. The money the Library spends on information resources is known as the 'library grant'.

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Library grant
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How does the Library decide what to buy?

To determine how funds are spent on new items (rather than recurring subscriptions), the Library monitors:

Where possible, we provide access to electronic resources (eResources) because you can use them both on and off-campus. There are different types of eResources - the most common are eBooks, eJournals, and databases.

eBooks

There are two questions the Library is often asked about eBooks:

  • Why don’t all of the Library’s eBooks work in the same way?
  • Why hasn’t the Library purchased an eBook version of a particular reading list title?

The answers to both are complex but have a similar root cause: In short, publishers impose more restrictions on eBooks bought by libraries than eBooks bought by individuals. These restrictions are described in the eBook's licence, and these licence restrictions have become increasingly complex in recent years.

These licence restrictions, and associated eBook pricing, have a big impact on how the Library allocates funds to eBooks.

eBook licence restrictions

We’d love to be able to provide you with all the eBooks you need on the same website platform. We'd prefer them to have the same read-online and download options, the same print and copy options, and for them to be available to all students at the same time. However, each publisher makes different decisions about which website platforms they will work with and how they allow their eBooks to be used. You may even find that the same publisher has different licensing restrictions for eBooks in different subject areas!

Some eBook licences permit unlimited, concurrent users and this means everyone can use the eBook at the same time. Other licences permit a limited number of concurrent users, perhaps only 1 or 3 people.

Other licences set a maximum number of times the eBook can be used, and after the total is reached the title is no longer accessible.

eBook prices

As we explained in our eBook-themed Twitter thread, the prices libraries have to pay keep increasing. Sometimes by over 100% at a time! This can make it difficult to plan our spending over the year, and ensure all students get access to the titles they need.

eBooks not sold to Libraries

However, our biggest challenge is that there are publishers who won’t allow university libraries to buy eBook versions of some of the key titles that you need. This is because they are worried that students who use library eBooks won’t buy their own print or eBook copy, and that their income will be reduced.

The Library's approach to tackling these issues

So, what does the Library do to tackle these issues?

  • We work with teaching staff to understand the information needed to support your studies.
  • If the preferred title(s) aren’t available in a suitable format, or on licence terms that permit access to enough people, we:
    • Negotiate with our suppliers, and publishers, for the release of a suitable version and licence
    • Look for alternative, equivalent titles
    • Use a combination of titles in different formats to provide the information. This will be marked on your reading list, and you’ll be directed to either the print or eBook depending on which format you prefer
    • Where permitted, create a legal, accessible scan of key chapters, articles etc.
  • The Library works with regional and national organisations to campaign for fairer, financially sustainable, access to eResources, especially eBooks.

eJournals and databases

Sometimes we subscribe to an individual eJournal title, but more often we subscribe to databases containing hundreds or thousands of eJournal titles. The length of the subscription varies: for an individual eJournal, it will typically be for one year; for a database it may be 3 to 5 years.

Subscriptions, also known as recurrent costs, account for approx. 80% of the Library’s annual spending.

Therefore, we must evaluate the relative costs and benefits of each deal offered by the publisher. We consider many factors including:

  • actual demand (via usage statistics)
  • anticipated demand
  • cost
  • licensing restrictions
  • the relative merits of purchasing individual titles or large packages of titles

Library purchasing FAQs

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