Borrowing & Fetching / Renewing loans / Returning books /
Reserving books / Recommendations for Purchase

University of Cambridge Staff and Students

Borrowing

If you’re registered as a borrower you can:

• Borrow 5 books using the self-service kiosk (and any accompanying CDs) at any one time
• Loan periods are in four week blocks
• Books are automatically renewed for a period of up to one year. You will receive a statement on the second day of every month which shows a snapshot of what items you have on your account, including overdue items and fines.
• If someone requests the item you have borrowed please bring it back within three days
• Remember that there may be an e-book that would satisfy your needs: check out  e-books@cambridge(access to books might require RAVEN).
• Remember to bring your blue university card with you.
• Non-borrowers can use the library for reference purposes only.
• There is more information about borrowing here

Requesting

If you need an item that’s on loan to someone else, you can use the ‘request’ option in iDiscover to ask for it to be returned. Not sure how to do that? Help available here.

NB – the books you are borrowing could be requested by another reader. If they are, you will receive an email notification and have three days to return them. Note that fines will be charged on requested items that are not returned within three days of notification.

We are happy to help, but the quickest way to request a book is to do it yourself by logging on to ‘My Library Account on iDiscover. If you need instructions on how to request our books, we have a guide here.

Returning

You can return the books to staff at library reception, the self-service kiosk in the library, or by using the book return box outside the front door of the Clinical School.

NHS Staff and other non-university library members

Borrowing

If you’re registered as a borrower you can:

• borrow 5 books (and any accompanying CDs) at any one time
• Books are automatically renewed for a period of up to one year. You will receive a statement on the second day of every month which shows a snapshot of what items you have on your account, including overdue items and fines.

At the end of the loan period the books must be returned to the library for 2 working days before they can be borrowed again.

• NB – if your books are requested by another reader, we will not renew your loan.

Remember to bring your Medical Library card with you.

Non-borrowers can use the library for reference purposes only.

Remember that there may be an e-book that would satisfy your needs: check out  e-books@cambridge (access to books might require RAVEN).

Renewing

Books are automatically renewed for a period of up to one year. You will receive a statement on the second day of every month which shows a snapshot of what items you have on your account, including overdue items and fines.

Requesting

If the book you want is on loan to someone else, you can request it. We will email you when it is ready to collect.

NB – the books you are borrowing could be requested by another reader. If they are, you will receive an email notification and have a week to return them, and you will not be able to extend your loan of the requested items. Note that fines are charged at a higher daily rate on requested items that are not returned within a week of notification.

We are happy to help, but the quickest way to request a book is to do it yourself by logging on to ‘My Library Account on iDiscover. If you need instructions on how to request our books, we have a guide here.

Returning

You can return the books to staff at library reception, the self-service machine in the library, or by using the book return box outside the front door of the Clinical School.

If you return your loans late, we charge a fine: 25p per item per day. This is higher if the book has been requested by another user.