How do I place an ILL request for a journal article?

This article covers the following topics:

Searching for journals at other NHS libraries
Using the ILL Requests module to create an ILL article request for a title in NHS library holdings
Using the British Library API to request articles from the British Library
Re-requesting from another source.
Completing and classifying requests

Searching for journal articles

You will need the citation for the article you are trying to find. Once you have this:

Search INCDocs using the DOI or PMID of the article. If the request has come from the NHS Knowledge and Library Hub, this will be included in the citation details.
If there is no DOI listed on the request, do a quick search for the article, and add the DOI or PMID to INCDocs.
INCDocs will provide a link to open access and/or locally subscribed content. If not, it will select a library with electronic holdings, email a request to them with a link. The supplying library will email the article to your ILL inbox.
If you are logging all your article requests through Koha, proceed to ‘Creating a request using the ILL Requests module.

If the article is not available via INCDocs, search for an NHS library with print holdings. This may include your own library:

Search the Koha catalogue for the journal name, searching in the "title" field.

If the title is available from your local library network, click on its title to view holding information in the Public Notes section. If a local library has the journal for the year / volume you are looking for, request it from them.
If the title is not available from Koha, and you are part of ELMS look for titles from other NHS libraries in the following priority order:
- Opt-in networks such as PLCS https://plcs.nhs.uk/ or NULJ https://www.nulj.uk/ if you are a member.
- PANDDA: https://resources.lksnorth.nhs.uk/search
- SWIMS: https://swims.inforlib.uk/iguana/www.main.cls?surl=HEE
- LENDS: http://www.lawmunion.nhs.uk/
- SENDS: https://kss.koha-ptfs.co.uk/
- British Library: https://www.bl.uk/
If you are part of KSS, look for titles from other NHS libraries in the following priority order:
- Opt-in networks such as PLCS https://plcs.nhs.uk/ or NULJ https://www.nulj.uk/ if you are a member.
- SWIMS: https://swims.inforlib.uk/iguana/www.main.cls?surl=HEE
- LENDS: http://www.lawmunion.nhs.uk/
- PANDDA: https://resources.lksnorth.nhs.uk/search
- EDEN: https://elms.koha-ptfs.co.uk/
- British Library: https://www.bl.uk/
If you are requesting from an NHS library network listed above, use the instructions in the next section to place your request.
If you are requesting from PLCS or NULJ, you will need to request via their websites and then record the request in Koha as outlined in the next section.
If you are requesting from the British Library and are not set up with the British Library API, place your request using British library On Demand https://ondemand.bl.uk/onDemand/home then record your request on Koha as outlined in the next section.

Creating a request using the ILL Requests module

If you are placing your request using the British Library API, go to the next section

From the main page of Koha, click on "ILL Requests", then on "New ILL Request" then "Book / Article Request"

Choose "Journal Article" as the request type and fill in all the citation details, then at the bottom enter the user's card number and home library (referred to here as the "Destination Library").

the system will check if there is a matching item in Koha. This is relevant for books, but not for journals, so click "continue creating your request"

You are then taken to the "Manage ILL Request" page. From here you can click on "edit request" to edit the details of the request (which user it's going to, any staff notes about the item), or "edit item metadata" to change details of the item.
If you are using INCDocs or planning to obtain the article from a non-NHS library:
- Click ‘Confirm request’.
- When the article arrives, go to ‘Completing and classifying requests’.
If you have searched INCDocs and the article is not available open access or from NHS electronic holdings, you will need to request from NHS libraries’ print holdings or another source, click on "Request from source"

On the "Request from source" page, you can look through or filter for the library you are requesting from. If you already have the network and library code you can enter these to filter, or you can filter by library name.

Once you have placed the request, its status will change to "requested from partners" and an email will be sent to the holding library
If you are requesting from PLCS, NULJ, or the British Library from their website select PLCS, NULJ, or BL. Please note this will not request the item, which you need to have done through the relevant website.

Creating a request using the British Library API

If you are not set up with the British Library API, contact your regional Koha administrator to see if this is available for you. If you do not know if you are set up with the British Library API, you can check by going to https://api.bldss.bl.uk, logging in with your British Library On Demand details, and seeing if the "ELMS Koha Live" API is listed and confirmed. In the meantime place your request with British Library On Demand and record it as detailed above. If you already have access to the British Library API proceed as detailed below:

From the main page of Koha, click on "ILL Requests", then on "New ILL Request" then "BLDSS"

Choose "article" in the "type" dropdown.

You will now be searching through the British Library's database of articles. This is very easy to overload. The way to get the best results is to search for keywords from your article. So for example if you were looking for: Kloth, Saskia, et al. "Child and mother variables in the development of stuttering among high-risk children: A longitudinal study." Journal of Fluency Disorders 23.4 (1998): 217-230." you might enter the title terms child, mother, and stuttering.
Enter the user's card number and home library, then click "search"
Any articles that match the search terms you have entered will display below. If you see either nothing or significantly too many articles, click on the button marked "amend your search" to change your search terms.

If you do see the article you are looking for it will have a British library Identifier listed. Click on this to create a request.
You are taken to the "Manage ILL Request" screen. From here you can make any changes needed to the request and also finish placing the request. Please note: do not click "Request from source". As this is a British Library request you will instead click "confirm request".

When you have clicked "confirm request" you will be taken to a page where you specify the format of the request (encrypted, unencrypted, or paper) and both the speed and quality of the scan you want. As standard it is a good idea to specify speed of 4 days and quality of standard. You can get the article faster and in massively higher resolution but this will be more expensive.

When you have made your selections click "Check this price". If everything is in order click "Place request". The request will then be sent to the British Library.

Re-requesting from another source

Sometimes the original source will get back to you to let you know that the resource you had requested is unavailable. If this is the case, Koha makes it easy to re-request.

Find your initial request on the "ILL requests" screen and click "manage request"

If you initially requested from one NHS library and are re-requesting from another NHS library, click "revert request", then confirm this will change the request status to "cancelled". Once this has been done, click "request from source" again and select the new library from the "Place request with partner libraries" list.

If you initially requested from an NHS library and are having to request the article from the British Library, please note that the API does not work reliably. Your best option is either to place the request on the British Library on Demand website and then record it here by listing BL as the source, or to delete this request and re-enter this as a request using the British Library API.
If you initially requested from the British Library and wish to request from somewhere else, click the button marked "switch provider". You might get an error message at this point. if so, go back to the main page and into ILL requests again and the type of request should have changed from "BLDSS" to "Freeform". Click on "Manage request" then "Request from source" and choose your new supplier.

Completing and classifying requests

For services which record all requests through Koha. If the article is open access, select Complete - sourced form open access. If the article is available from a national or local electronic subscription, select Complete - Download from own collections. If the article is available from your print holdings, select Complete - Scan from own collections.

For articles sourced from other libraries:

Once a request has been fulfilled and you have been emailed or posted the article you will need to record the status of this article in the system. Once the article has been sent to the user you will need to do the following.

From the main page of Koha, click on "ILL Requests", find the request you placed, and click "manage request".
If everything has been received and sent to the user, click "Mark completed". This will change the request's status to "Completed"

Once the request has been completed, click on "Edit Request". From the drop-down menu here change the status from "Completed" to indicate who supplied the article. So for example if it came from a library in the PANDDA network give the item a status of "Complete, sourced from PANDDA"
If the article came from another NHS library via INCDocs, select ‘Complete – Sourced from INCDocs.’

Once you have classified the request in this way, you have finished every part of the ILL article request.