There is a major asbestos problem in the British Library building where most of the book and journal stock for inter-library lending is housed. Much of the material is unavailable either for lending or for scanning to be sent as an SED (secure electronic delivery) and this is likely to continue for up to 12 months.
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This will cause severe problems for our Document Delivery Service. In many cases we have to find an alternative source (usually another University Library).  This takes administrative time to locate, and also the alternative Libraries are feeling the strain of the large increase in requests so delays are inevitable. They also more frequently impose a reference-only restriction on book loans (to be consulted only within our Library) which is a further degradation of the service overall.
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Although Document Delivery mainly applies to research activity, the British Library is also our main source of articles for digitised reading lists, so these are also likely to be affected.
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We will continue to fulfil requests as quickly as possible and can only apologise for any inconvenience this causes.
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Information from the British Library on the asbestos problem can be found at: http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/atyourdesk/docsupply/help/customerupdates/index.html ,
and you can check the progress of any of your Document Delivery requests at:
http://clio.stir.ac.uk once you have logged in choose the option “View Your Requests”.
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If you have any queries about the service please contact Linda Cameron on 7239 or email at l.a.cameron@stir.ac.uk