By Jacklyn Rander, Library Publishing Manager

Design by Christine Melvin, Student Production Assistant

Document Delivery is a service that allows students, faculty, and staff to request items at Grand Valley State University Libraries or from other participating libraries. When a request is placed, University Libraries staff check our multiple locations, if the resource is available, it will be retrieved and sent to a preferred pickup location – or directly to an inbox. If University Libraries does not own the resource, staff work with other libraries to borrow the item as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. When the item is ready, the requestor will receive an email with the electronic version, or an alert that the physical items can be picked up at the preferred University Library location. Continue reading for more information about this service.

By the Numbers (In 2017-2018 fiscal year)

• 12,216 total documents borrowed
• 1,072 requests for documents that we have in our libraries
• 3,712 total documents loaned out to other libraries
• 88 documents purchased due to high demand

Document Delivery Flowchart:

• Request a document
• Fill out all the information you have
• If the document is more than five years old, RapidILL, an automated retrieval system will find the document and it will deliver it to the library, or your inbox
• If you do not have all the necessary information, or if the document was created in the last five years, a staff member will retrieve the document in the most efficient way, and deliver it to the library or your inbox