Library

Document Delivery Service for Non-OHSU Users

OHSU Users: Please visit this page for our document delivery/interlibrary loan requesting service.

Employees of the Multnomah County Health Department who cannot obtain needed articles through their National Library of Medicine Public Health Digital Library access can request articles by creating an account using their @multco.us email address.

Who can use the service?
Members from the community not associated with OHSU may use our document delivery service for a fee.

What is the service?
OHSU Library's document delivery service for Non-OHSU users provides requested articles or chapters as electronic PDFs from materials owned by OHSU Library for a fee. You can learn how to make a request here.

What is the status of my request?
When you log into your document delivery account, your request(s) will display with an associated status:

  • Awaiting Copyright Clearance: request is awaiting internal system verification before being ordered.
  • Awaiting Request Processing: request has been verified but has not yet been ordered.
  • Request Sent: request has been sent to potential library lenders.
  • Delivered to Web: request has been fulfilled and is available as an electronic PDF within the user's document delivery account.
  • Request Finished: requested item has been fulfilled and is now complete.
  • Awaiting Special Handling: requested item is complex and OHSU Library staff is reviewing.

How much does the service cost?
The fee for providing a PDF from the Library’s collection is $15 per request. Payment may be requested prior to receiving your requested PDF. Please note that it is likely that your local public or county library offers interlibrary loan and document delivery services free of charge and may be a no cost alternative to using our services.

How long does it take to receive items?
PDFs typically arrive within 1-3 business days. If rush service is needed, please email libdoc@ohsu.edu so that we can expedite it if we have staff available.  A rush service will be charged an additional $10 fee.
 
How will my requested material arrive?

We provide all requests as electronic PDFs. Please see your local public library for borrowing physical materials (books, media, etc.) through interlibrary loan.
 
How long are my PDFs available?

PDFs will remain accessible for approximately 30 days. After the 30 days, PDFs are deleted from our server and no longer retrievable. Requests for previously requested material will incur a $15 service fee if they fall beyond the 30 day window.

Why was my request canceled because it was not available in the Library’s collection?
If you receive an email message stating Not Available in Library’s Collection, this means we do not own the requested material. Suggestions for procuring the material elsewhere will be provided.

Where do my requested items come from?
Your requests are fulfilled from our print collection and then scanned into PDFs, or saved directly from our electronic resources.

If you have questions, please contact us.