Document Delivery

The NIH Library provides access to a premier collection of scholarly resources to support research at NIH and HHS, including thousands of journals and books in print and electronic format. The NIH Library’s Document Delivery service helps get items from our collection, or from other libraries around the world if those items are not held by the NIH Library through the ILLiad online request system for you at no additional cost. 

Introducing Contactless Pickup

The NIH Library is now providing Contactless Pickup for Print Materials and Interlibrary Loans.  Requested items that are available online will still be delivered electronically. The contactless pickup service is for print/physical materials only. Turnaround time may exceed 5 business days. Learn more on the Contactless Pickup Announcement page.

What We Do

Document Delivery

The NIH Library’s Document Delivery Service helps you get the materials you need for your research. Whether you need a book, article, paper, or other item, and regardless of whether it is at the NIH Library or another institution, the Library will work to get it for you. The Library has an extensive collection of research materials, searchable via the online catalog. Start with the main search box on the NIH Library website. 

However, there are times when your trail of research may lead to an article, book, report, or other item that is not available from our collection. In these instances, the NIH Library’s Document Delivery Service can borrow items from other libraries and document delivery vendors for you, including books, articles, and other materials.

Request Materials

You may request materials directly through the ILLiad form or from a database search via the NIH Library Go button. The most prominent database is PubMed @ NIH, a special NIH version of PubMed for NIH staff that allows direct access to full text PDFs of the journal subscriptions provided by the NIH Library. New users are prompted to create an ILLiad account before requesting materials. For instructions on how to submit a request please see Document Delivery FAQs.

Get help / FAQ

Contact the NIH Library Information Desk at 301-496-1080 or edelivery@nih.gov.
For more information and help see the Document Delivery / Request Materials FAQ page.

Cost

There is no charge to use the Document Delivery Service for NIH and select HHS staff.