Inter-library loan
Literature that is not available at the HLB can be ordered via inter-library loan from other libraries in Germany.
Please use the Hebis portal for this purpose.
This can take 2-3 weeks and costs €2.00 per order (regardless of success).
Questions & answers about inter-library loans
To order an inter-library loan, you need an inter-library loan account with credit, which we will be happy to set up for you on request. You must pay an amount of money into this account, as each order will be debited with a fixed fee of 2.00 euros.
You can pay in interlibrary loan credit on site with an EC card and have it credited at the counter during service hours or you can transfer the money to the corresponding account details.
The credit will usually be added to your interlibrary loan account after a few days. You can then place interlibrary loan requests via the HeBIS portal.
The cost of an interlibrary loan request (book or journal article up to 20 pages) is 2.00 euros. This is a lump sum for expenses not dependent on success. There are separate costs for articles over 20 pages, orders from abroad, etc. You can indicate with each order whether you accept additional costs or not.
Start the HeBIS portal and register under "User data". You can then start your search using the search mask provided and order the desired item online immediately. Please note that not every item you can order is also available via inter-library loan. It makes sense to click through to the owning libraries, especially if the list of hits is very short, as the library pages often contain information on inter-library loans.
We will be happy to provide you with more detailed information on this topic by email, phone or online consultation.
To order an essay/article, please follow our instructions.
You can use the inter-library loan service to order media that are not in our collection as originals or copies following your research in the inter-library loan portal. The requirement is that the desired literature is graded for professional or academic purposes as well as for training and continuing education.
- Media that are available in the higher education institution and state library. Even if all available items are on loan, it is not possible to request interlibrary loans.
- Literature that is available in bookshops for less than 15 euros.
- Entire journal issues/volumes, whereby copies can be ordered.
- Reference works and loose-leaf collections, whereby copies of individual articles can usually be ordered.
- DIN standards cannot be ordered via inter-library loan.
- The following media are often not delivered, although they can be ordered via the interlibrary loan portal: DVDs, audio books, theses (Diplom, bachelor's, master's theses etc.), new publications from the last 6 months, large formats, essays (Instructions for ordering an article).
- E-books or articles from e-journals
If you log in to the inter-library loan portal under "User data" and select your inter-library loan data, you will receive an overview of your inter-library loan requests with the current processing status.
On the colored data carrier/section enclosed with the inter-library loan, which must remain in the book until it is returned, you will find information on whether the check-out period can be extended.
If a one-off extension is possible, you can do this yourself online in your loan account. Further extensions are not possible.
If you are in a particular hurry, you can order books and articles (for a fee) via electronic document delivery services.
For example: www.subito-doc.de
An order from abroad is generally possible, but costs at least 8.00 euros.
If you are interested, please contact us by email.
Inter-library loans in Germany are regulated by the so-called inter-library loan regulations.