Here you can suggest a purchase or request interlibrary loans and copies of articles. You can also find further information on how to order, how to gain access to the material, and on the costs of interlibrary loans and copies. At the bottom of the page there is information on interlibrary loans for other libraries.
Order: suggestions, interlibrary loans and article copies
Use this order form to leave purchase suggestions or to request interlibrary loans and article copies.
Contact the library
Contact us if you have questions about your purchases, interlibrary loans or article copies.
If you are unable to find what you are searching for in the library collections, you may request the material you need for your studies or research. Place your order using the form Order: suggestions, interlibrary loans and article copies.
Our first priority is to purchase requested literature that is not held by the library. If the requested book is available as an e-book, we will purchase the book in this format. If we do not purchase the publication, we can order it as an interlibrary loan. An interlibrary loan is material that is on loan from another library.
If you need an article from a journal we do not have access to it is possible to order it from other libraries that have. We will then send you a copy of the article.
E-books
When we purchase your request as an e-book you will receive an e-mail with a link as soon as the book is available. If you do not have an Umu-id you will need to come to the library and use one of our computers to read the e-book.
Printed books and interlibrary loans
When we purchase a printed book or make an interlibrary loan, you will be notified by email or text message when the material has arrived at the library.
Delivery times depend on many factors and may therefore vary. Crucial factors are the availability of the material and how quickly a supplier or lending library responds to the request.
As a library patron you may request interlibrary loans for research and studies.
You cannot make an interlibrary loan if the material has been checked out from Umeå University Library or if the material is being held by any other library in Umeå. Please check whether we hold the book at Umeå University Library before you place your order.
We purchase all textbooks for courses at Umeå University. However, the purchases are based on the textbook lists in the educational administrative system Selma. Therefore, you cannot submit a purchase suggestion if a textbook is not in the library's collection. Instead, the teacher of the course needs to update the information in Selma.
The loan period for an interlibrary loan is determined by the lending library. Please note that the loan period can be cut short if the lending library needs the book back for any reason. If you have questions about extending the loan period, contact the library at this link:
The lending library is responsible to decide whether you can borrow the book or you must read it in the library or in the supervised reading room. The lending library will also decide whether they send us the material as a loan or they send copies.
If an interlibrary loan is not returned after being recalled, your borrowing privileges will be suspended until the book has been returned. If you lose the book or if it is damaged, you will be required to pay for it.
Read more about rules for interlibrary loans here:
Most libraries will not lend their periodicals. Instead they will send copies of the article you need or the table of contents.
If you need a single book chapter you can request that particular chapter. The lending library decide whether it sends a copy of the material or the whole book as an interlibrary loan.
For copyright reasons, you will usually receive your copies in paper format. We send the copies by internal mail to Umeå University employees and employees of Västerbotten County Council. If you are a student or other patron, the copies are sent to the address that you state in the order form.
The time it takes from placing your order until you receive your material depends on how long it takes the lending library to process the request and deliver the material to us.
If you live outside Umeå municipality you may request the books you need for your studies via the nearest local library. The local library will then request an interlibrary loan from us. An interlibrary loan means that we send the books to your local library and you borrow and return the books there.
If you want to borrow textbooks by interlibrary loan it is important for your local library to include in the request that you are a distance student at Umeå University. Please note that textbooks have a short loan period.
The National Library of Sweden (KB) have collections of audiovisual media, for example TV, radio, film, music, computer games and VHS. If you are researching and need these materials for your research, you can order audiovisual materials from KB.
Create an account or log in to SMDB services
For a limited time: Online access to requested audiovisual materials
Currently and for a limited amount of time, you may access copyright protected audiovisual materials from KB from a distance, due to an agreement made between KB and Copyswede. In other words, you may access the requested files directly from your computer instead of only accessing them through the library’s supervised reading room.
The agreement is valid until 31 december 2022 and applies to researchers and postgraduate students.
It is free of charge if we can purchase the material or borrow it from libraries in Sweden and the Nordic countries.
If the material needs to be borrowed from a library outside the Nordic countries, it will cost you SEK 250 per volume. In that case we will first ask if you are still interested.
Copies from the library's own material or libraries within Sweden and the Nordic countries cost SEK 100.
Copies from libraries outside the Nordic countries cost SEK 150.
Prices apply per 1-40 pages, and for every 40 pages the price is added once more.
Example: A copy of a 53-page article that we order from Norway will cost a total of SEK 200 (2 x SEK 100).
If you are an employee at Umeå University or Västerbotten County Council we will send an invoice to the department/clinic.
If you are a student or a patron from the general public we will send your invoice to the address you stated on the order form.
This section provides information for other libraries and organisations that request interlibrary loans from us. Make your requests for interlibrary loans in the same order form as our patrons:
Order: suggestions, interlibrary loans and article copies
Loan periods and loan rules
Find further information on interlibrary loans in our loan rules:
Price list for libraries and other organisations
Swedish libraries
Nordic libraries
Libraries outside the Nordic countries
Contact us if you have any questions regarding interlibrary loans. Find our contact form, phone numbers and addresses at this link: