Interlibrary loan and delivery services

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If the desired title is not available in any Dresden library, we will deliver literature from external libraries within the framework of interlibrary loan. With the TU delivery service, employees of the TU Dresden can have digital journal articles and page copies from our holdings delivered to them.

The interlibrary loan fee was reintroduced on 1 April 2025. Each interlibrary loan request now costs €1.50. Read here on the SLUBlog (German) why this is necessary and what you should keep in mind for future interlibrary loan requests.

Interlibrary loan - service for all users

If your desired title is not listed in the SLUB catalogue, you can request a copy from other libraries. And this is how it works:

  • Search in and order from our research portal. Not all materials can be borrowed - you can usually get exact information from the catalogue of the respective library.
  • A processing fee of € 1.50 is charged for each interlibrary loan (see also point 2 of the SLUB's schedule of fees and charges). The fee must be paid for each order placed. The delivery time for an interlibrary loan is approximately 14 days. We deliver printed items and journal articles of individual chapters (max. 10 % of the total volume, copyright).
  • The processing status of your interlibrary loan orders can be viewed in your user account. You will be notified when your order is ready for you.
  • You can obtain your interlibrary loan materials at the circulation desk by presenting your user card. Extensions are possible in agreement with the lending library and can be requested by you in your user account from three days before the expiry of the loan period - a maximum of once per item.

International interlibrary loans: How to place an interlibrary loan abroad

Works published abroad that are not available in German libraries can be ordered via the International Interlibrary Loan system (ILV).

  1. To do this, first search as usual in the search portal for the desired title.
  2. If you do not get a hit there, use the Free entry form to request an international interlibrary loan.
  3. If our subsequent search shows that the title you are looking for is not actually available in Germany, we will ask you whether you would like to place an international order for a fee.
  4. You confirm the foreign interlibrary loan with costs and we place your order. Only when this has been successful will we enter the actual costs in your fee account.
  5. Books are generally only made available for on-site use.

 Book lendingCopy
Europe (except GB)
  • approx. 8-16 € loan fee from the lending library
  • plus approx. 15 € costs for return postage
  • approx. 4 - 8 €
  • No return postage
GB
  • approx. 25 - 40 € loan fee
  • plus approx. 22 € costs for return shipping
  • approx. 20 €
worldwide
  • approx. 24 - 32 € rental fee
  • plus approx. 30 € costs for return shipping
  • approx. 8 - 20 €

Service for foreign libraries

Do you belong to a library outside Germany and would like to order media from the SLUB via interlibrary loan? We also lend parts of our holdings to foreign libraries or make copies of them.

This is how it works

  • Please send us your enquiry using the order form, stating an order number and your full delivery address.
  • Please use IFLA vouchers as a means of payment.
    or libraries from other EU countries, we charge 3 IFLA vouchers per book loan and 0.5 IFLA vouchers per 50 pages of copies.
    For libraries from non-EU countries, the cost of a book loan is 5 IFLA vouchers and 0.5 IFLA vouchers per 50 pages of copies.
  • Please send the vouchers to our postal address when returning the books or after receiving the copies
  • Books are generally only made available for on-site use.

Paid delivery with Subito

Subito is a delivery service provided by libraries for a fee. After registering, you can research and order essays and books online via subito. Delivery is made directly to the contact details you have provided by e-mail or post.

  • Processing time: 72 hours
  • Rush order: 24 hours
  • Costs: from 5 euros.

TU Delivery Service - Service for TU Dresden employees

The TU delivery service is the in-house document delivery service for employees of the TU Dresden with their own user account. Journal articles and partial copies from books (approx. 10 percent of the work) can be ordered from our holdings, but not complete works for copyright reasons. For this service we charge a fee of 6,00 € per document. You can view your fees in your user account.

In the SLUB catalogue, the reference to the ordering option within the framework of the TU delivery service is only displayed individually after user login.

Not delivered:

  • Articles from journals that are already available in full text in the online version.
  • Articles/book chapters from books or journals published before 1850 (Please contact the Dresden Digitisation Centre in these cases!).

Delivery is usually made within 72 hours by e-mail as a PDF file. If you have problems opening the file, you will receive a link to the FTP server by e-mail.

This is how it works

  • First log in to your user account.
  • Search for the journal or book title.
  • Select a copy for which the "TU" symbol indicates that it can be ordered via the TU delivery service.
  • Order using the order function displayed by the copy. You will be directed to a partially completed order form, which you should complete with the exact item details. You can then submit your order.
  • If delivery is not possible, you will receive a message by e-mail.
  • Complaints must be made within ten days of the end of the processing time.

Tel.: +49 351 4677-430 E-mail: fernleihe@slub-dresden.de

How it works

  • First log in to your SLUB account.
  • Search for the journal or book title.
  • Select a copy for which the symbol "TU" indicates that it can be ordered via the TU delivery service.
  • Order using the order function displayed by the copy. You will be directed to a partially completed order form, which you should complete with the exact item details. You can then submit your order.
  • If delivery is not possible, you will receive a message by e-mail.
  • Complaints must be made within ten days of the end of the processing time.

Feel free to contact us!

Contact: Grit Reinhold
Phone: +49 351 4677-430
E-mail: fernleihe@slub-dresden.de