To get an article from a journal not owned by Columbia University, use Health Science Library's interlibrary loan (ILL) service. Current CUIMC students, faculty, and staff can ask that the HSL request articles from other libraries at no charge to you. 

Preliminary Steps

Check CLIO, Columbia's online library catalog, to make sure that the journal in which this article was published is not owned by Columbia University either in print or online.

If the journal is stored at Columbia's offsite shelving facility (known as ReCAP), as indicated in the CLIO record, then make a request for the article to be scanned and delivered to you by email.

Submitting an Interlibrary Loan Request

With an e-link from a database like PubMed:

1. Click on the e-link icon.
2. Select the "Interlibrary Loan" link from the lower portion of the screen.
3. Enter your UNI and password as prompted.
4. Choose the CUIMC campus as your affiliation.
5. Confirm that the pre-populated fields are correct and submit your request.

If an e-link is not available:

1. Visit Columbia's interlibrary loan service, know as ILLiad.
2. If this is your first request in the system, you'll need to register.
3. If you've previously registered, you'll be taken straight to the ILLiad system.
4. On the left-hand side, of the page, click on "Order a Journal Article" under New Request.
5. Complete as much of the article information as possible. The following fields are required:
   1. Article Title
   2. Journal Title
   3. Year
   4. Pages
6. Review the information and click "Submit Request" at the bottom of the page

ILL articles are usually available within 2-3 days of the request, but may take longer. You will receive an email when the article is available.

Relevant Resources

ILLiad - ILLiad is the interlibrary loan service we use at the Health Sciences Library.

CLIO - CLIO is the online catalog for the Columbia University Libraries.

PubMed -  PubMed is a search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of life sciences and biomedical references. Beginning your search in PubMed on the HSL homepage will provide you with an HSL-supplied proxy link, called the “Columbia e-link,” which will take you to the electronic record in CLIO for the material.