Finding, requesting & deliveries

The catalogue shows locations for every item and tells you how to request them for use at the Library.

A few common location information statements in the Library’s catalogue:

Request from [location]

Use your Library member details to sign in and ‘request' the item.

• Click on the title or on the ‘Available’ statement (circled above) to go to the full record view.
• Sign in, and open each ‘Available’ statement to see what is held at each location.
• ‘Request’ your selected item
• You can request up to ten items at a time.
• Catalogue requests will be delivered to the Redmond Barry Reading Room Collection Point, according to the collection retrieval times.
• Items will be held under your family name for seven days.

Available online

Click the link to access the item. These items are either:

• Freely available in the Library and from home.
• Available only inside the Library.
• Available from home using your library membership.

Find on shelf

Available from an open access shelf in one of the Reading Rooms. To find the item yourself, note the name of the room and the call number.

Click on the blue 'Map it' button for a map to the item location.

Legal Deposit copies

Legal Deposit copies are donated to the Library to preserve a lasting record of Victoria’s publishing history. These copies should only be used when there is no other copy available. If you see a Legal Deposit message on an item, check locations under 'Availability' for alternate copies you can request.

If there are no other copies you can still request the Legal Deposit copy once you’ve signed in.

Phone 03 8664 7002 to arrange access/delivery

Some items are stored offsite or are in a special collection such as Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps or Pictures. We will order this material for you and requests need to be made in advance.

• Call the number listed – have your Library member details ready, or if you're at the Library, speak to staff At the Ask a Librarian desk.
• See collection retrieval times for delivery times.
• Manuscript and Pictures material often have finding lists available to help with accurate retrievals. Ask a librarian for more information.

Deliveries:

• Redmond Barry Reading Room – most offsite books and journals
• Heritage Collections Reading Room – special collections, offsite newspapers
• Librarians will make an appointment for the Heritage Collections Reading Room for you when ordering your material.

Check other locations

We have multiple copies of some items, and different date ranges of journals and newspapers may be stored in separate places. For more information, choose the Available link.

For journals and newspapers, click each location in turn to find out more about our holdings – we don't always have every issue of a title.

This item cannot be requested at present

We may have to temporarily restrict access to some collection items. We will keep you updated on when we can make these items available.

Ask at desk

If you see this message, Ask a librarian and we'll help you work out what to do next.

Collection retrieval times

These can vary - please refer to current collection retrieval times for full details.