Answer

Updated July 2024

At the end of October 2023, the British Library experienced a major technology outage as a result of a cyberattack. The outage has affected their website and online systems and services, including their On Demand service which is our main supplier of interlibrary loans. The British Library is working to restore their services however disruption has persisted for several months. Due to this, please anticipate an extended delay in receiving digital interlibrary loan article requests.

If you have placed an interlibrary loan request:

• We will try to find the item for you via other UK institutions although this will take time as it will depend on which institutions hold the journal for the correct date range required. Whether another institution can supply a copy will also affect the request time.

• If you are a member of the SCONUL Access scheme you may be able to access a print version of the item on the shelves of another UK institution in person. Collections of other libraries can be checked via Jisc Discover Hub and WorldCat. Alternatively, academic authors often deposit versions of their papers in their institution's research repositories. Repository content from other UK universities can be searched via Core. We can help advise you if you think either of these would be a practical option.

• Let us know if you would like help finding similar sources from our collections and subscriptions or that are available open access. You can - view a list of open access databases and repositories in this FAQ.

If you are wondering about the status of your request please get in touch.

Links & Files

FAQ Actions