7. FIT-IH: Loansome Doc to order articles
If you've tried the Information Superhighway to locate an article without success, (or you can't afford what you find), you can always use the
Information Dirt Road method, AKA Inter-Library Loan, by contacting your
library. (We also accept requests that you haven't tried to locate. <g>)
While hand written notes, telephone calls, emails, corridor consults, and in person requests are all accepted, the best method for a
Free-and-Independent-Traveler on the Information Highway to use to request a copy of an article is through "Loansome Doc".
Created by the Deadheads at the National Library of Medicine "Loansome Doc" is an automated ordering system that uses PubMed
(http://pubmed.gov) to send an electronic request to any medical library you have signed up with.
The request takes just a few easy steps and will have all the necessary ordering and contact information included. You can use it 24/7 world wide
from any Web browser. In addition, you can track the processing of your request.
Once you've signed up for Loansome Doc (see below for instructions) all you need to do to order an article is:
1) find the article in PubMed
2) on the Action Bar choose "Order" from the "Send To" down arrow pick list
3) enter your email address and password (just like PayPal)
4) review your order
5) review the delivery options and add a deadline or note to the library and check the box at the bottom of the page agreeing to not violate the US
copyright law
6) review your order one more time
7) click on the "Send Order" button at the bottom of the page.
That's it. Start checking your mailbox.
You will receive the article in your email box in a day or two, or in your snail mail box in about 10 days, depending on a hundred million variables.
The library has a 97% (and increasing) success rate in locating copies of articles that are in MEDLINE/PubMed.
In addition to using Loansome Doc with the results of a regular PubMed search, you can use the "Single Citation Matcher" to locate a specific
article you want that you found outside PubMed (in a book, article, email
from a friend, MD Consult, Ovid, or wherever). Just go to the "Single Citation Matcher" in PubMed and fill in two or more blanks. Choose "Single
Citation Matcher" from the blue NCBI navigation bar on the left of any
PubMed page, or go to:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query/static/citmatch.html
If you are ordering more than one article at a time save them in Clipboard until you are ready to place your order. This will consolidate your
requests so that you only have to do the full ordering process once, just
like using your shopping cart in Amazon.com.
When you are ready to order, go to Clipboard. On the Action Bar choose "Order" from the "Send To" down arrow pick list. On the next screen fill in
your email address and password. Review the page with the ordering
information. Is this the correct article? On the next page review the delivery options, add a deadline or note to the library if needed, and check
the box at the bottom of the page agreeing to not violate the US copyright
law. On the next page review your order one more time. Then click on the "Send Order" button at the bottom of the page.
In a clinical emergency be sure to speak to your librarian. Depending on your location in the world an article can be in your email or fax machine
within an hour Monday through Friday (or at least within a few hours). But
only if you speak to your librarian so that they can ensure the special processing of your request.
Happy trails
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