Borrow Direct
Purpose & eligibility:
- Borrow Direct is a free service to obtain circulating materials that are not available at Columbia University Libraries from Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation peers.
- It may be used by all Columbia University students, staff, and faculty. For more information about library privileges, visit Borrow, Request, Renew.
- Requests are delivered to your location of choice in 3-5 business days. First time users will need to create an ILL account.
Printed books, music scores, DVDs and CDs not available at Columbia, with the following exceptions:
- Non-circulating materials from other library collections
- Journal articles or bound journals
- Microforms (only deliverable to Butler Library)
Loan Periods and Returns: Sixteen (16) weeks and not renewable. Contact borrowdirect@columbia.edu if you have any questions or require assistance.
Recalls: All Borrow Direct books are subject to recall by the lending partner. Most recalls are for books intended for Reserves. Please return all recalled items as soon as possible.
Hold Period: You will be notified by email when your request is available for pick-up. All items will be held for 7 days at the selected delivery locations.
Turnaround Time: The expected time from request to availability is 3-5 business days. A business day for the Libraries is Monday to Friday, excluding University Holidays.
Notification Emails: Notices will be sent to the email address on record when item is ready for pick-up. To confirm your email address, check My Borrowing Account and click the blue "View Personal Information" button; please contact borrowdirect@columbia.edu if your email address needs to be updated.
- At this time, library staff encourage users to use CLIO as the first-stage of discovery
- All available Offsite collections are deliverable within 1-2 business days
- Unavailable collections will provide a link to Borrow Direct, look for the Pick-Up (Borrow Direct) hyperlink.
- Click on the "Pick-Up (Borrow Direct)" link in CLIO and enter your Columbia University Network ID (UNI) and password.
- Enter your search term(s) in the single Simple Search box, or click on Advanced Search for more options. Advanced Search gives you the option to:
- search by keyword, author, title, subject and/or ISBN
- combine two or more search types, e.g. author & title or keyword & subject
- limit your search to "ALL Terms", "ANY Terms", or "NO Terms"
- Use search tools such as wildcard symbol (*) or fuzzy search (~)
- For permission to place requests, click on the "Institutional Login" at the top-right of the screen
- All lendable copies will display a "Request" button. Note: You may have to scroll down to see all available copies.
- If the item is requestable via Borrow Direct, click "Request" and select a pick-up location from the drop-down list
- Include a pertinent note if necessary in the Volume(s) Needed field. Please note that due to system limitations, only 1 volume of a multi-volume set can be delivered per request. If you need multiple volumes, or the entire set, submit subsequent requests detailing the volume numbers.
- A request submission message will display, including your request number.
- An e-mail confirmation of your request will be sent to you, generally within a few minutes. Save the e-mail and request number in case you wish to check on the status of your request at a later time. Another e-mail will be sent to alert you when the item is available for pick–up.
- Please log out. Make sure to click on the Log Out link that appears at the top-right of the Borrow Direct screen to ensure your privacy and the security of the system.
E-mail: borrowdirect@columbia.edu
Phone: 212-854-7535