How to Avoid Ordering Undeliverable Interlibrary Loans
Click on links
The "More" tab in Catalogue PLUS is a search index of a broad range of licensed databases. Here, you will find a potpourri of full texts, bibliographic data, data on hits on the internet, illustrations, etc. The descriptions of these come from databases with different structures. Therefore, before you click on the How-do-I-get-it button and, thereby, check the availability in libraries in our interlibrary loan region, it is often useful to follow the links in the data record. You might be directed to a free internet source, an OpenAccess text, or a document licensed by FH Aachen.
Pay attention to the small print: Revealing articles that are treated as books
In the index of the "More" tab (Catalogue PLUS), the contents of different databases are displayed in a uniform format. The interface does not assign some information quite correctly.
In the following example, the media type "Book" and the information "Document Type: Monographic component part" under "Other" contradict each other. The title of the book from which the "component" originates is not apparent, but is relevant for a successful availability search.
Check the publication of current titles
Some libraries pre-order media from the book trade. For these pre-orders, they already create entries for their library catalogues, which you can find in the supraregional search. An interlibrary loan order is technically feasible, but delivery is not.
Therefore, first look at the holdings statement for current titles. Sometimes the shelfmark is replaced by "ordered".
Final theses that have not been published by a publishing house
Most university libraries that are responsible for archiving theses in printed form will lend them to users locally, but will not place them on interlibrary loan. You can identify these theses, which are of the "book" type, due to the fact that they do not have a publisher's statement (or a university as the publisher), in the field Other it states "Bachelor's thesis", "Master's thesis", " Diplom thesis" or similar, and the title is unusually long and long-winded.
However, before giving up, click through the links provided. Many theses are available for download on university servers as OpenAccess documents.