The British Library is experiencing a major technology outage, as a result of what has now been identified as a cyber-attack.
The outage is affecting the British Library website, online systems and many of its services including British Library On Demand. Further information available here
British Library On Demand allows you to search and order content from over 42 million items held in the British Library's collections.
You will need to register for a British Library Online Account (select On Demand as the service) and then associate that account with Staffordshire University Libraries.
When you receive an email from the British Library asking you to confirm your email address. Click on the link within the email to activate your account, then forward this email to the Document Delivery team at docdel@staffs.ac.uk to notify us of your online account number. Please include your Staffordshire University student number or staff ID to allow us to confirm your status and eligibility, and the email address that you registered with the British Library. We will contact you to confirm when your online account has been associated with our business account.
You can then order electronic copies of chapters and articles to be delivered direct to your registered email address. Please note, you will be required to complete a Copyright Declaration form for each request made.
You can also use this service to request copies of books for loan to your home address, please note in this case you are responsible for returning any items to the British Library (and paying the postage costs) alongside any charges for overdue, damaged or lost items you have loaned.
There is no limit to the number of requests that you can make, but please bear in mind that the service is expensive, so try to be selective. Please also make sure that you check any items you wish to request are not freely available online. Our guide to Open Access resources in the section below will help you with this.
Sometimes we can’t fulfil requests due to availability, cost or copyright restrictions, but we will let you know of any issues.
Please note that you will be responsible for paying the return postage costs to the British Library. Loans should normally be returned by first class post. However, British Library may ask you to use some form of recorded delivery when returning an item. A return address label is enclosed with loans and should be used to return the item to the correct address.
Overdue, Damaged or Lost Items
Books on loan can be recalled by the British Library at any time – please ensure that you check your online account and emails regularly for notifications. If a loan item is not returned promptly after being recalled, an overdue charge of £5.45 will be applied.
The British Library charges a minimum of £185.50 for long overdue, damaged or lost items - this includes an administration charge of £92.75 plus VAT, which is non-refundable even if the book is returned. This charge will be passed on to the borrower.
How to Register for British Library On Demand
To register for a British Library Online Account, please follow the step-by-step instructions in the guides below.
