FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT

What is Borrow Direct?

• Borrow Direct is an interlibrary borrowing service that allows Yale faculty, students and staff to request books directly from other participating university libraries.  The service allows readers to request items without staff mediation and provides fast, reliable delivery.
• Requests can be submitted 24/7 via the web; use the Borrow Direct link on the Library Front Door or the URL http://www.library.yale.edu/ill/borrowdirect.html .
• Readers can search Borrow Direct by title, author, or ISBN.  Subject and keyword searches are not available.

Eligibility

• Yale faculty, students and staff who have NetIDs and active Yale email accounts can access Borrow Direct. 
• A library patron who is blocked in Orbis will not be able to access Borrow Direct.

Participating institutions

• Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University.
• Each participating institution determines which of its libraries and collections will be available through Borrow Direct.

Readers may request:

• Books not owned by Yale libraries.
• Books that are currently unavailable from a Yale library--books that are checked out, missing*, non-circulating, on reserve, at the bindery, or on order.
• Books that normally circulate from the collections of the participating libraries.

* To request a missing book through Borrow Direct, the Orbis record must be coded to indicate the appropriate status.  If Orbis shows that a book is “not checked out,” Borrow Direct will not accept a request for it.  If a book is not found in the stacks, ask Access Services staff at the Circulation Desk to update the record to “missing.” 

Readers will not be able to request:

• Books currently available at Yale libraries, i.e., Orbis status “Not checked out”
• Journals, magazines, other serial publications or newspapers
• Photocopies of journal articles, conference proceedings, books chapters, etc.
• Reference books, other materials designated non-circulating, microfilm, videos, DVDs, or CDs
• Books from libraries and collections that have a circulation period of less than 42 days

Fast delivery

• Most books will be available for pickup at the selected Yale library within four (4) business days from the date the request was submitted.

Loan period

• The loan period is 6 weeks (42 days).
• Books borrowed through Borrow Direct may be recalled by the owning library.  A recalled book is due within 5 days of the recall notice.
• No renewals are available. 

Multi-volume titles

• The reader must submit a separate request for each volume wanted. 
• These requests should be submitted at the same time and a volume number must be specified in the Note field of each request.
• If no volume is specified, the lending library will send the first volume of the set.

Notification of request status and item availability

• The reader will receive automatic email notices throughout the processing of each request—request acknowledged, item shipped, item available for pickup, and return of item acknowledged.
• In addition, the reader can check on the status of current requests by logging in to Borrow Direct and clicking the “Review your requests” button.

Pickup locations

• Six Yale libraries are pickup locations for Borrow Direct—Bass, Divinity, Engineering, Kline Science, Medical, and Social Science libraries. 
• The reader will be prompted to select a pickup location before the Borrow Direct request can be submitted.

Items not available through Borrow Direct

Use Document Delivery/Interlibrary Loan services (http://www.library.yale.edu/ill) to request materials unavailable through Borrow Direct.

Comments, questions, or problems?

Although Borrow Direct requests are self-initiated, help is available.  Questions, problems, and comments can be sent via email to borrowdirect@yale.edu.

LOGGING IN TO BORROW DIRECT

From the Yale University Library Web page, click on the link for Borrow Direct.

Click on Enter Borrow Direct to proceed to the Yale University authentication screen.

Once you have been authenticated, the following screen will be displayed.  You can begin searching for an item you wish to request or you can review your current Borrow Direct requests by clicking the appropriate button.

If you are not authenticated and you get a message indicating that your Yale ID is not valid, check with staff in the SML Privileges Office or send a request for assistance to borrowdirect@yale.edu .

Print Borrow Direct FAQ as a Word document

Rev.09/03/2008:clj