Quotas and charges
Due to the cost of fullfilling requests the number freely fullfilled per person is limited by a quota system. Quotas run for the academic year; from the start of August to the end of July. Unused portions of quotas cannot be carried forward to the next academic year.
Items requested over and above your quota will incur a charge but we will always check with you first before placing a charged for request.
From 7th March 2012 British Library items on loan returned late may incur an additional renewal charge.
Some users (e.g. undergraduates and clerical staff) are required to apply for an quota must first fill in the appropriate application form:
Writing up students
Once you are in your writing up year your quota will be set to zero. If you wish to obtain interlibrary loans during this period please complete and return the following form before placing your requests:
Distance Learners and Authorisation
If you are an undergraduate student registered as a distance learner you will automatically get an allocation and do not need to complete a form. If you a post-graduate distance learner at any level, you have the same ILL quota and rights as on campus students.
Annual quotas
| Category of User | Annual Quota* |
|---|---|
| Academic, Research, Academic Related, Emeritus Professors, and Technical staff (grades 6 & above) | 25 |
| Research postgraduates | 25 |
| Taught course postgraduates (higher degree), including PGCE | 15 |
| Taught course postgraduates - (not Higher Degree) | Up to 5 Authorisation |
| Undergraduate students | Up to 5 Authorisation |
| Undergraduate students (Distance Learners) | 5 |
| Occasional/temporary academic staff | Up to 5 Authorisation |
| Teaching Assistants | Up to 5 Authorisation |
| Clerical staff (grades 1-5) | Up to 5 Authorisation |
| Visiting staff | 0 |
| Writing up students and students with extensions | 0 |
*Quotas will be allocated pro rata for those studying only part of an academic year
Once a request for an item has been processed your quota will be reduced, even if we are unable to locate the materials. This reflects the staff time expended in processing, searching and attempting to obtain the items for you.
Charges for overquota items
| Request costs | Quota cost | Over quota/charged rate |
|---|---|---|
| Electronic article from the UK |
1 |
£7.80 |
| Single article from the UK |
1 |
£9.00 |
| Single loan from the UK |
1 |
£12.00 |
| Renewal each application per item |
1 |
£4.50 |
| Copyright cleared article |
N/A |
£11.00 plus British Library copyright fee |
| Extended search |
1 |
£12.00 |
| Worldwide loan |
8 |
£62.50 |
| Worldwide article |
9 |
£71.00 |
| Worldwide request which cannot be supplied |
3 |
£28.00 |
| UMI Proquest Thesis |
5 |
£42.00 |
| EThOS Thesis Digitisation Charge |
5 |
£40.85** |
**Some EThOS institutions charge a higher fee.
Additional charges & multiple-volume works
Some material, such as theses, worldwide requests and urgent action items, are only available at extra cost. Where multiple volumes of a work (e.g. journal or book) are requested, each physical volume of the work required will constitute a separate quota request; unless they are bound together by the loaning library as a single item.
Other Charges
| Request costs | Over quota or charged rate |
|---|---|
| Uncollected items | £7.00 |
|
Lost or damaged ILL British Library items |
Minimum charge made by the British Library is £176.64 |
|
Lost or damaged ILL items from other institutions |
Variable charge made by the lending library plus £7.00 handling charge per item |
VAT is included where applicable.
