If a book you are looking for is not available from the Yale libraries, you can use the free "Borrow Direct" service of the Library to get it from another "Borrow Direct" participating library. Through Borrow Direct, you can search a combined catalog of Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Penn, Princeton, and Yale and request books not currently available at Yale.

Borrow Direct service has the following advantages:

• Borrow Direct is usually faster than regular interlibrary loan -- your book will normally be delivered within 4 business days;
• Borrow Direct does not care if Yale owns the book or not -- you can use Borrow Direct even if a book you want is at Yale but is checked out to someone else.

Accessing BorrowDirect

There are two ways to access the Borrow Direct Service: via the Medical Library Home Page, or via the Orbis Library Catalog.

Via the Medical Library Home Page 

You can access the Borrow Direct service from the Medical Library home page. There is a link for "Request Materials" under "Services" in the left column of the page.

You can follow the steps on the next pages, but there is a convenient link for Borrow Direct on the right column under "Related Links".

Via the Orbis Library Catalog 

You can also access Borrow Direct from within the Orbis Library Catalog. Just click on the "Borrow Direct / ILL" link across the top of any Orbis page.

On the next page, click on the "Borrow Direct" link under "Borrow Books".

Logging into Borrow Direct 

All those links will direct you to the following page. On this page, click on the "Enter Borrow Direct" Link.

You will be directed to the Yale CAS (Central Authentication Service) page. You can use your Yale NetID and password to log in to the service.

Searching BorrowDirect

This is the main menu for Borrow Direct. Let's select "Searching / Requesting" by clicking on the green button beside it.

This is the main search interface for Borrow Direct. We can see that there are three ways of searching for a book in Borrow Direct: Title, Author, or ISBN number. If you know the title of the book you want, just type it in and click on the green button next to "Begin Searching".

How do I find ISBN numbers of the book I am looking for?

If you know the ISBN number of the book you are looking for, an ISBN search is usually more effective than Title and Author, because you are less likely to have spelling errors for ISBN numbers. You can easily find ISBN numbers through resources such as Orbis, WorldCat, or Amazon. 

Placing Requests

If there are available copies of the book you are looking for in the Borrow Direct participating libraries, those copies will show up in the list below the search result. You can click on the green button under "Request" to have it delivered to your home library.

You must confirm your identity, select a pickup location, and you can leave an optional note:

What happens after you hit the submit button?

After you place your request, an email message will be sent to you whenever your request status changes. You can also check the status of your request using the Borrow Direct system. Just click on the green button beside "Review your Requests" in the Borrow Direct main menu page.

Normally Borrow Direct books will be delivered within 4 business days. When you receive the email that tells you your book is available to pick up, you can pick it up in the Library Circulation Desk you chose when you placed the request.