E-Books at the University of Dayton

OhioLINK is a partnership of over 100 academic libraries across Ohio with combined holdings of nearly 50 million physical books, along with thousands of media titles (DVDs, VHS, etc). One of OhioLINK's core services is free lending of these books and media titles between member universities (UD is a full member). All faculty, staff, and students at UD can use this service free of charge. So if you need a book or DVD that is not readily available (whether it's checked out, or we just don't own it), you can request any available copy from another OhioLINK member institution. 

Here's how to submit a request starting from UD's Catalog:

• Search for a title or topic in the UD Library Catalog. If your search brings up zero results (as pictured below), then you can search the collections of other OhioLINK members by selecting the "Search OhioLINK" button, as shown below:

• Clicking "Search OhioLINK" will take you to the OhioLINK Library Catalog. This catalog will provide you with available results for your topic or title. In the example below, multiple results are available for the topic searched. Each result that is available for request can be identified by a green "Request" button, as shown here:

• Clicking on the title of any of the above results will open a page on the specific title. Visiting this page can be useful if you wish to know which universities own the title before you hit the green "Request" button:

• Selecting the green "Request" button (either from the search results page or from a title's entry page) will open a new window with instructions to "Please select your school or institution." As pictured below, "U of Dayton" is an available option. Once this option has been selected, click "Submit above information"

• On the next page, enter your name and University of Dayton ID number. If you don't know your ID number, it can be identified from your UD issued ID card. Your name should be entered in the same way as pictured below ("First name" "last name" w/ no commas). Lastly, select the relevant option under "Pickup Location" for where you want the item delivered on campus:

• Click the green "Submit" once all info has been entered and selected. This will complete the request, and the book should arrive within a few business days. You will be notified when it is available for pickup.

If you're unable to find your book or media title through UD's Library Catalog or through OhioLINK, then you can request a copy through UD's free Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service. For this service, titles can be requested in print form if you need the entire book, or you can request a PDF if you only need a book chapter. In general, ILL requests can be submitted in two different ways: 1) by filling out a form manually in your Interlibrary Loan account or 2) by having the form auto-populate using our yellow "FIND IT!" links. Here's a breakdown for both options:

Filling out the form manually:

• Go to Roesch Library's Interlibrary Loan page.

• Sign in using your UD username and password.

• Click the Create Request button.

• Select the type of resource you'd like to request (Book, Article/Chapter, or Other) from the options at the top of the screen.

• Fill out as much information as you can about the resource. At the bottom of the screen, click Submit Request.

• Within a few days to a week, the resource should be delivered to you. Many journal articles will be delivered electronically; books, theses, DVDs/VHS, and manuscripts may be sent directly to Roesch Library and require pickup. 

Using "FIND IT!" to auto-populate the form 

• In many of our databases, you will sometimes see our yellow "FIND IT!" button listed next to e-book titles/chapters or next to media (DVDs, VHS, CDs, etc).

• Seeing this button indicates that the title or e-book chapter might be held in our collections, and clicking it will open a tab that will display access options. You may see a link to click on to access the full text of the item. If the item is not available, you will see the screen below, which provides two other options: to search for more information on Google Scholar and/or request the item through Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

• Clicking "Search for more info on this title in Google Scholar" on this page will open up a new search for the item in Google Scholar. This is always a good step to take before submitting an ILL request. 

• If the title is not available within Google Scholar, then select the "Request this item through interlibrary loan" link to submit a request. This will take you to your interlibrary loan account. Once logged in (using your UD username and password), you should see a form with information pre-populated for author, title, ISBN, etc. Scroll to the bottom of this page to submit the request. For full e-book title requests, a print version will likely be sent for pickup at UD's campus. For e-book chapters, typically a PDF version of the individual book chapter will be sent electronically. For DVD or VHS tapes, the physical item will be sent for pickup at UD's campus.

• Are you a distance learner? Fear not, you still have options! Please visit the following page to read instructions on how to request print materials if you are not able to visit Roesch in person: https://udayton.edu/libraries/services/ill.php.

UD Libraries is happy to review purchase requests from students, faculty, and staff. If you are unable to find an item that you think the library should own, then please contact your subject librarian.

Make sure to indicate if you are specifically interested in the e-book version. It is also helpful for us to know if this is just for your individual research, or if access is being requested for an entire class.