The information on this page applies to community members.

Requesting Items with a McGill Libraries Borrowing Card

With a McGill Libraries Borrowing card, you can request to have any regular loan item owned by any McGill library location (including the McGill University Collections Centre) retrieved for you and made available for pickup.

To request an item for pickup:

  1. Search for it in the Sofia Discovery Tool (Library catalogue),
  2. Click the "Request / Hold" button,
  3. Sign in using your McGill library account credentials,
  4. Select the library pickup location of your choice.

You will be notified by email when the item you requested is available for pickup.

The item will be held at your chosen pickup location for 7 days.

You can view details about your hold requests and cancel requests for items you no longer need via your library account.

Please note:

  • It is also possible to place hold requests on items that are "on order" or "in process".
  • Course Reserve items and eBooks cannot be requested for pickup.
  • You can only select a McGill library as your pickup location.
Wait Times for Hold Requests
  • Staff will retrieve available items by the next business day. 
  • In most cases, items requested from the McGill University Collections Centre for pickup at the Humanities & Social Science Library should be available within one business day. 
  • Items requested for pickup at other library locations may require two business days. 
  • Hold requests placed on McGill items that are currently checked out can take up to 30 days to fill.

ILL lending to external libraries

If you are a member of a library other than McGill, you may be eligible to borrow McGill items via Interlibrary Loan (ILL). 

Contact your library to learn more about their ILL services and policies.

Requesting from the Collections Centre without McGill Libraries borrowing privileges

Members of the public with no McGill Libraries borrowing card can request monographs located in the McGill University Collections Centre (Robotic Storage) be moved to the Humanities and Social Sciences Library.

Once these items arrive, you can consult them on-site. Requests are limited to 10 per week per user.

Please note: a monograph is a book that is complete in itself and contains only a single volume. Serial publications like journals and multivolume sets cannot be requested from the McGill University Collections Centre via the above method at this time.