Library Service Point: Document Delivery Services

Library Document Delivery Services:

The Lamar Soutter Library provides two services to request access to articles, book chapters, and books that are not available in our collection. The Library covers the cost of these services for UMass Chan Students, Staff, Faculty, Residents, Fellows, and Post-Docs.

1. Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

• Free for UMass Chan Students, Faculty, Staff, Residents, Fellows, Post-Docs, and UMass Memorial Health Care Clinicians
• Free for Boston Medical Library Fellows & Massachusetts Medical Society Members
• Requires an account with the Interlibrary Loan Request System (ILLiad)
• Available for a wide selection of journals and books
  • Article or book chapter delivery within 3-5 days
  • Print Book delivery in 2-3 weeks

2. Article Galaxy Scholar (AGS) *Available beginning January, 2026*

• Free for UMass Chan Students, Faculty, Staff, Residents, Fellows, Post-Docs
• Requires an @umassmed.edu email
• Available for a select number of journal titles, for up to 10 requests per month per user
• PDFs typically are delivered within an hour
• If an article isn’t available with AGS, you will be redirected to ILL

Article Galaxy is a pilot program. Depending on funds available, we may be able to increase usage allowances, or we may need to restrict usage if the demand for articles is higher than expected.

**These document delivery services are not available for Baystate and Lahey users:

If you are a resident, clinician, or faculty at Baystate Medical Center, we recommend the services of Baystate's Library & Knowledge Services.

If you are a resident, clinician, or faculty at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, we recommend you contact your librarian at the Richard B. Cattell Library.

Review Resource Request Options

Learn more about searching the Lamar Soutter Library collection here. If an article or book is not available through the Lamar Soutter Library collection, you will be redirected to the Library Catalog, where you can review the resource-specific request options. 

**UMMHC staff should place ILL requests directly in our ILLiad system. Directions are at the end of this page.

1. You must login with your library account to see available request options. Learn about your library account here.

2. Once logged in with your library account, you will see one, both, or none of the options below depending on your affiliation with UMass Chan Medical School:

Submit an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Request:

1. You will be asked to login with your ILLiad account (interlibrary loan system)
   1. New Users:  instructions for creating an ILLiad account are at the bottom of this page.
2. Your ILL request form will be pre-populated. Review the fields and submit.

To learn how to create an ILL request directly in ILLiad, scroll down this page.

Get it Now via Article Galaxy:

*Some articles are not available through Article Galaxy Scholar. If this is the case for your article, you will be re-directed to the library’s Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service.

1. Enter your @umassmed.edu email address at the bottom of the page and click “Submit”
2. Review the Article Galaxy Scholar terms and confirm that you’ve tried to retrieve the article for free and are not submitting a duplicate order. Click “Request PDF” to submit the request.
   • Many articles will be available for immediate download; click the “Open PDF” button the download the article to your device.
3. You will receive an email with the order details and an article download link within an hour or so.
   • This download link can only be clicked three times, and the link will stay active for 30 days.
   • If you don’t receive an email within 24 hours and/or have not been able to download the article, please contact the library for assistance through Ask a Librarian. Do not submit a duplicate order for the same item.

How to Create an Interlibrary Loan Request in ILLiad

If you would like to place an Interlibrary Loan request directly through the ILLiad system:

1. Log into your ILLiad account and fill out an interlibrary loan request form for a book, article, or book chapter.

• If you forget your ILLiad password, please submit a question to Ask a Librarian.

2. Click Article, Book, or Book Chapter in the "New Requests" section of the sidebar:

3. Enter the citation and fill in all required answers. Then click Submit Request.

Create an Interlibrary Loan Account

*Not applicable for Baystate or Lahey

1. Start on the First Time User Registration for Interlibrary Loan Requests.

 2. Read the Information. Then select First Time Users Click Here:

3. Fill out all required fields of the registration form & submit.

*Please use your @umassmed.edu or @umassmemorial.org email addresses

5. Disregard the "Add Account" Form.

6. You are ready to begin requesting Interlibrary Loans!

If you have any questions or need help with your Library Account or ILL Account, please use Ask a Librarian.