• Click the request button. You will first be asked to log in with your university username and password (or if you are an external borrower, Exeter alumni, fee payer or SCONUL access member you will need to tick the  ‘Login using UoE Library identification UniCard or Library Card instead’  box and log-in using your barcode number and Library PIN).

• You will now be asked to enter a cancellation date for your reservation. If you know that you won’t need it the past a certain date (perhaps you have an essay deadline) you can enter this date, so if the book hasn’t come back by then your booking will be cancelled automatically. If you have no deadline, or want the book no matter how long it takes, then enter a date here that is far in the future:

• Select an appropriate date then choose ‘submit’
• You can now request the item. If multiple copies of the same item are available then it usually makes sense to select that book that is due back soonest. Due dates and any pre-existing holds will show on the right:

• Click on ‘Request Selected item.’ You should then be taken to screen that will confirm your hold has been successfully placed. Don’t forget to log out of  your Library record!

What happens next?

• If the item you requested was due back more than a week ahead the loan period will be automatically shortened and the current borrower will receive an email asking them to return it by the new date.
• When the item comes back you will receive an email from us and you can come in and collect it from the home library of the book, e.g. if it is a book from a collection in St Luke’s you will need to collect it from there. Forum Library books should be collected from the reservations shelf in Express Collections.

• Find your item on this shelf: it will be filed under the first four letters of your surname and your library card number.
• Issue the item as normal on one of the machines in this section.
• We hold the item here for up to one week (or until your not ‘cancel by’ date is reached, whichever is sooner) after this time it will pass to the next person in the queue, or back into circulation if nobody else is waiting.

You can place up to 10 holds at a time and don’t forget you can always cancel holds you no longer require, or check which items you are waiting for, by logging in to your patron record.

Please note you will not be able to request books that are freely available on the shelves, just come in and get them.

If you have any questions or would like help with this topic please contact Library Staff.