Discover the range of services available to you from Cambridge Libraries
Cambridge Libraries Inter-Library Loan (ILL) services
You can request an article or book you need if it is not held (is not physically available for reading/lending) or is not subscribed online by Cambridge Libraries and we will try to obtain it for you from another library. Links to the ILL pages of libraries offering this service, including some Faculty and Departmental libraries, and the University Library, are provided here.
Cambridge Libraries will be sourcing your request from the British Library or other major academic libraries and your request will usually be delivered direct to your email account via Secure Electronic Delivery, thereby avoiding postage delays. For more information on Secure Electronic Delivery see the University Library's information page here.
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Cambridge University Library Inter-Library Loans
Betty & Gordon Moore Library (BGML) Inter-Library Loans
Medical Library Inter-Library Loans
Earth Sciences Inter-Library Loans
Department of Physics, Cavendish Laboratory, Inter-Library Loans
Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience (PDN) Inter-Library Loans (only available to PDN members)
Cambridge Libraries scan & deliver services
The Betty & Gordon Moore Library and the University Library offer a scan & delivery service for items held in these libraries.
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Betty & Gordon Moore Library Scan & Deliver service
This free service is provided to allow staff and students, who are currently at Cambridge University, to get remote access to materials held in the Betty & Gordon Moore Library that is not currently available electronically.
University Library Digital Content Unit
The University Library provides and licenses high-quality digital images of the Library's collections through its Digital Content Unit. You should contact the DCU before you reproduce Library materials in publications, websites or broadcasts. You might need to order the images and then (when you are ready to publish) complete the licensing process.
Cambridge University Libraries Scan & Deliver service
You can request an individual scanned copy of one chapter (or 5%) of a monograph or one article per issue of a journal from the modern collections held in Cambridge University Libraries, subject to relevant conservation approval and copyright permission. You may order free low resolution digital scans of Special Collections items for personal research use if the material you need is suitable for scanning and the volume of your request is reasonable. This service is currently free. You may also use this form to request a printout of a chapter or article from any material held by the library as Electronic Legal Deposit, normally accessible only via designated computers
Article Galaxy from Reprints Desk
The University does not subscribe to the Article Galaxy service as an institution, but you can register for a free account as an individual and upgrade your account if you want to gain unlimited access to its research gadgets.
We recommend our Inter-Library Loan services as your best and first option, but you may prefer Article Galaxy as an individual subscriber if your need to purchase or rent a document is very urgent. Article Galaxy claims to deliver the PDF "to your inbox within minutes".
A partial list of publishers whose articles are available at a discounted rate, or at list price, via Article Galaxy is available on this page.
JSTOR article access
The University subscribes to the great majority of archival journal collections on JSTOR, but there are some collections (e.g. in Business) and some current issues that although they are unembargoed on JSTOR still require a subscription and for which access is not available.
JSTOR provides options for individuals - either for free or at a minimum cost - to get access to content on its platform that may not be available to you via Cambridge institutional subscriptions. An individual account can provide read access of up to six articles a month online for free. JPASS provides reduced rates for individual subscriptions. Frequently asked questions on JPASS and the journals included can be found here.
There are also substantial tranches of content (books, journals and "early journal content" published prior to 1923 in the United States and prior to 1870 elsewhere) that JSTOR makes available Open Access to everyone.
