Request a purchase

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UQ staff and students can suggest published items for addition to the Library collection.

We will consider your request for purchase based on our Collection Management Policy.  Items requested must support research, teaching or learning at the University. Electronic formats are preferred.

Check if we have the item and submit a purchase request

You can use Library Search or our Citation Finder to check first if we already provide access to the item, and submit a purchase request if not. 

In Library Search

  1. Log in to UQ Library 
  2. Add details of your item to the Library search box and search 
  3. Select the Include results not available online checkbox, to expand your results to include more records (Information about this option) 
  4. If you find the item listed as having No full-text, open the record to see your available requesting options under Get It 
  5. Select the Request purchase link to open an embedded form 
  6. Fill out the form with as much detail as possible, and select Submit
  7. The form will update to indicate Request placed successfully 
  8. You may check the progress of your request at any time via My Account > Requests, and we will email you within seven days. If approved, items may take from a few days to several months to arrive, depending on their availability. 

We have also included a link to Citation Finder in the message which displays in Library Search when your search does not return any results.  This may be a useful pathway when your search query does not match information in items within Library Search. 

Via Citation Finder 

  1. Log in to Citation Finder 
  2. Enter the item details and select Submit 
  3. A query will be performed against our available items, and depending on the results, you may be redirected to a source platform providing full text access, our physical holdings will be listed, or a brief item page will display with your available requesting options under Get It
  4. Click the Request purchase link to open an embedded form 
  5. Fill out the form with as much detail as possible and press Submit 
  6. The form will update to indicate Request placed successfully
  7. You may check the progress of your request at any time via My Account > Requests, and we will email you within seven days. If approved, items may take from a few days to several months to arrive, depending on their availability. 

Other ways to request

Borrow the item from another library: request document delivery to access items we do not hold. We will attempt to obtain them on your behalf.