The KTU Library provides access to a wide range of printed information sources – monographs, educational literature, dissertations and their abstracts, and subscribes to more than 50 different databases, where users can read almost half a million e-books and about 30,000 electronic journals. However, there are some situations where a much-needed article or book cannot be found on the Internet, in subscription resources, or in the library’s collection. In order to meet the information needs of its users best, the Library offers an interlibrary loan service.
Interlibrary loan is a service when one library that does not have a particular item for user’s needs borrows it from another library in Lithuania or abroad. Libraries may loan textbooks, monographs, other books, or send copies of book chapters or journal articles. Encyclopaedias, reference books, dictionaries, rare publications, and manuscripts cannot be borrowed. Libraries also do not send journals, only individual articles from them.
To make use of the interlibrary loan service, readers should send a request to biblioteka@ktu.lt and indicate as precisely as possible the details of the publication or article they wish to order: title, author(s), year of publication, ISBN (book) or ISSN (journal) number if possible. The more detailed the information reader provides, the easier the publication will be found. Once we receive a request, we usually reply to the reader within 1 working day, informing him/her what library we can borrow the publication from, and what the terms of the loan would be. If the item is available in one of the libraries in Kaunas, we do not offer interlibrary loan and recommend that the reader contact that library directly.
You may have to wait from 1 week to a month for the item to arrive from another library (it takes longer for international requests). Copies of an article or chapters of a book arrive slightly faster, in about 1-7 working days. A book borrowed from another Lithuanian or foreign library can only be read in the reading room of the KTU Library; we will not be able to check it out at home. The borrowing library sets the due date for returning the book. Copies of the articles are given to the user – they do not need to be returned.
There is a charge for an interlibrary loan. The fee consists of the postage costs and the lending fee requested by the sending library. Copies of articles usually costs between €6-10. A library fulfils an interlibrary loan request after the user has agreed to pay for the service.
We invite you to use the interlibrary loan service and never run out of information for your research or course paper.
