With inter-library loan (ILL) services and Document Delivery (DD), users can request books or copies of articles the Library does not own, but which are available at other libraries.

The service is available to all university users, graduates (for three years after graduation), users from partner institutions (if the service is included in the partnership agreement) and registered BicoccAlumni members.

Users can make requests by filling out the OPAC online forms. Library staff will start processing the request within five working days.

When the document arrives, the user will be sent a notification email to their university email address.

The average arrival time is 4 days for articles and 11 days for books.

Requests will not be processed if the resource is available in a library to which users have access.

Therefore, requests made to the Central and the Science Libraries for books and articles belonging to the Università degli Studi di Milano University library or to public libraries (e.g. the National Library of Brera or the Sormani Library) will only be actioned if they were sent by lecturers, researchers, PhD students, research associates and technical/administrative staff. Students must go to the library which holds the document and use their borrowing or consultation services directly.
Students therefore must check if the document they require is available at one of these libraries before placing the inter-library service request.

Users can request up to 5 documents at a time (articles/ books).

The Bicocca University Library service is free of charge, but the library which owns the document may charge a fee. In this case, the user will be informed as quickly as possible. If they are unable to pay the charge, they can cancel their request.

For books, the conditions for usage (i.e. borrowing versus on-site use, loan duration) are decided by the owner library.

Users can keep the print copy of the articles they requested.

For copyright reasons, only print copies of articles can be provided. No electronic copies can be sent.

Users who request an inter-library loan of a book and then fail to collect it will be suspended from all services for 30 days.

For information or clarifications or to request a loan extension, please write to interbib@unimib.it (for the Central and Science Libraries) or interbib-med@unimib.it (for the Medicine Library).

This services is reserved exclusively for other libraries in Italy and abroad. Books and articles cannot be sent directly to private users.

The Library provides inter-library loan and document delivery services free of charge for other Italian libraries which offer the same services at the same conditions.

For libraries, Italian and foreign, that do not provide free reciprocity of service are required:

• 1 IFLA Voucher for inter-library loans;
•  ½ IFLA Voucher  for the supply of articles.

Requests can be sent to the following addresses:

• ill-dd@unimib.it for the the Cenral Library;
• interbib@unimib.it for the Science Library;
• interbib-med@unimib.it for the Medicine Library.

Books that have the status “Available for loan” in Prometeo can be requested for inter-library loan. Books with other statuses cannot be loaned via this system.

Book loans last for 60 days, inclusive of delivery times. Loans can be renewed once, provided the renewal has been requested before the end of the initial loan and as long as no other users have reserved the book.

Books are sent via ordinary post. Articles can be provided in electronic format via the NILDE service or sent by post.

Books sent via inter-library loan can be loaned to the user for whom they were requested, with the requesting library assuming full responsibility for this. Books must be returned in the same condition they were sent out in. If this is not the case, the requesting library must replace them with a new copy or pay the university Library the cost of replacing them.

The university Library is a member of ESSPER, NILDE and SBBL.