# How to find a book in a library near you

**How do I find a book from my reading list in a library near me?** To find a book in a library near you, search your university library's catalogue first and reserve or recall a copy that is out. If every copy is taken, check public libraries, a union catalogue such as WorldCat and, in the UK, SCONUL Access, or request an interlibrary loan. Confirm the edition and ISBN before you travel.

Published 2026-09-24 by EdCitation. https://edcitation.com/newsletter/find-a-book-in-a-library-near-you

Edinburgh's first-year course Introduction to British Politics names four books for 2026/27, one of them as "Norton et al., Politics UK", with no edition and no year (University of Edinburgh, 2026). Routledge's current edition is the eleventh, copyright 2026 on its page, edited by Bill Jones, Philip Norton and Isabelle Hertner, in that order (Routledge, n.d.). The tenth came out in 2021 (Jones et al., 2021). To find a book in a library near you, first know which of the two you are after.

EdCitation publishes this guide, which follows that entry from the list to a copy in your hands: your own catalogue, holds and recalls, public libraries, interlibrary loan, other universities' libraries, and the union catalogues that show who holds a book. Every rule and loan period comes from the library's or scheme's own page, read on 24 September 2026. EdCitation's part is the [Library](https://edcitation.com/tools/library), whose book cards show the libraries near you that hold a title, [Cite a source](https://edcitation.com/cite) for the reference, and [Verify references](https://edcitation.com/verify-references) for the finished list.

## Where should I look first for a book on my reading list?

Start with your own university library's catalogue. It holds the copies bought for your course and says where each one is and whether it may leave the building. At Edinburgh, the catalogue, DiscoverEd, gives the library that holds a book, its loan type, its shelfmark, the number of copies and whether each is on loan or available (University of Edinburgh, 2024c).

### What a catalogue record tells you

| The record shows | What it means at Edinburgh | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Loan type | Reserve: 3 hours, or overnight late in the day. Short Loan: 1 week. Standard Loan: 4 weeks for undergraduates, 12 for postgraduates | Plan to read a Reserve copy in the building |
| Status | On loan or available | Request a copy that is out |
| Location | A site library, or the University Collections Facility | Request a copy held there: normally ready in three to four working days |
| Edition and year | Whatever the record describes | Match it to your list before you go |
| Other libraries' copies | Not what this record covers | Open the book's card in EdCitation's [Library](https://edcitation.com/tools/library) for the libraries near you that hold it |

Sources: University of Edinburgh (2024a, 2024c). A loan can be renewed while nobody else has asked for the book, at Edinburgh for up to 36 months; Reserve books cannot be renewed or requested.

### When the list names no edition

A search on the list's words can bring back several editions. Search the title with an author's or editor's surname, sort newest first, and read each record's edition statement. It matters here: Routledge says the eleventh edition adds the Truss and Sunak premierships and Labour's 2024 election victory, which the 2021 edition cannot cover. Ask the course organiser which one the course follows, and see [how to find a textbook by ISBN or edition](https://edcitation.com/newsletter/how-to-find-a-textbook-by-isbn-or-edition) for how editions and ISBNs fit together.

## How do I reserve or recall a book that is on loan?

Place a request on it in the catalogue. At Edinburgh you sign in to DiscoverEd, check that no copy is on the shelf, choose Request and a pick-up point, and are told when and where the book is ready and how long it will be held. You may have 10 requests at a time, counting those waiting to be collected (University of Edinburgh, 2024b).

### What a recall does

Your request shortens someone else's loan. At Edinburgh, a Standard Loan book that another reader requests becomes due one week from the request, and a requested Short Loan book cannot be renewed past its due date (University of Edinburgh, 2024c). A book due back in four weeks may reach you in one.

Recall, not interlibrary loan, is the route for a book your library owns but has lent out, as Edinburgh's interlibrary loan page says (University of Edinburgh, 2024a).

## Can a public library get a university textbook?

Sometimes, and searching costs nothing. Edinburgh's city libraries lend up to 12 items for three weeks, renewable three times if nobody has reserved them, and order a book they do not hold from another library for £14.70 an item, free to housebound members (City of Edinburgh Council, n.d.-a). A member can reserve a copy online with a card number and PIN, in the app, by email, by phone or at any branch, and collect it at the most convenient library (City of Edinburgh Council, n.d.-b). WorldCat, described below, can list public libraries only (OCLC, 2025).

## What is an interlibrary loan, and how long does it take?

An interlibrary loan is a book your library borrows for you from another library because it does not own one, on your library's terms.

| | University of Edinburgh | University of Michigan | British Library On Demand |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Cost to you | 5 free a year for undergraduates, 30 for postgraduates, then £5 an item | No cost | Priced; your library or university may order for you |
| How long | Allow at least two weeks; obscure items can take months | Most physical items within a week | Aims to ship most items within four days |
| Loan length | Not stated on its page | Set by the lending library; 6 to 16 weeks on average | Returned after 12 weeks, with no renewals |

Sources: University of Edinburgh (2024a), University of Michigan Library (n.d.), British Library (n.d.-b).

Edinburgh's main UK source is the British Library Document Supply Centre, and it advises against requesting just before going away, as the book may arrive while you are gone.

## Can I visit or borrow from another university's library?

Often, through a reciprocal scheme, but what you get depends on who you are. The UK and Ireland have SCONUL Access, Australia and New Zealand have ULANZ, and in the United States the arrangements we read were made within groups of universities.

### SCONUL Access in the UK and Ireland

SCONUL Access covers most university libraries in the UK and Ireland, and its list of members ran to 198 on 24 September 2026 (SCONUL, n.d.-a, n.d.-b). Staff, research students, part-time, distance-learning and placement students, and full-time postgraduates may be able to borrow; full-time undergraduates may be able to use other libraries for reference (SCONUL, n.d.-b).

1. Apply on the SCONUL Access site with your user type and home institution. If no library appears, none accepts your type: the scheme is reciprocal (SCONUL, n.d.-c).
2. Wait for your home library's approval email; the start of the autumn term is slow.
3. Read the host's website for opening hours and local conditions: some issue cards only in office hours, or want a passport photograph (SCONUL, n.d.-d).
4. Take the approval email and your university card or other photographic ID.
5. Expect limits: a host may cap your borrowing and keep its short loan books back, and its e-journals are not yours by right.

In the host's summer vacation, undergraduates and taught postgraduates can normally use other SCONUL libraries for reference, free, without borrowing (SCONUL, n.d.-e).

### ULANZ, and groups of universities in the United States

The ULANZ Borrowing Scheme lets most staff and students of Australian and New Zealand universities borrow in person from any of the 45 libraries it lists (Council of Australasian University Librarians [CAUL], 2026). You register at the host with photo ID and proof of enrolment, some hosts charge a fee, and registration lasts until 28 February of the following year (CAUL, 2025). The Big Ten Academic Alliance lets faculty, staff and students of its members use and borrow in person at the others, with an institutional photo ID, under each lender's rules for guests (Big Ten Academic Alliance, n.d.).

### A national library, to read on site

The British Library admits anyone with a free Reader Pass, but its books stay in the building: you request them before you come and read them in London or Yorkshire (British Library, n.d.-c). Its digital collection is currently unavailable, after the October 2023 cyber-attack (British Library, n.d.-a), and its London site is closed on 26 and 27 September 2026 for maintenance. That is the case for checking before you travel.

## How do I find a book in a library near me?

Search a union catalogue, which covers many libraries' holdings at once. OCLC (n.d.) describes WorldCat.org as one search across billions of items in thousands of libraries. Its Find a Copy at a Library view lists the libraries that hold an item, some with distance and directions; filters narrow them by format, distance and edition, where This edition keeps only libraries that own that edition; and Borrow opens the library's own catalogue, which may ask for an ID or a fee (OCLC, 2025).

### What a union catalogue cannot tell you

WorldCat shows which libraries own a book. Whether a copy is on the shelf, and whether you may borrow it, is in that library's own catalogue and visitor pages, and OCLC's page for libraries asks them to keep their holdings accurate (OCLC, n.d.). Jisc's UK union catalogue, Library Hub Discover, was behind a bot check when we tried to read its pages, so we describe only WorldCat.

### From a book's card in EdCitation's Library

EdCitation's [Library](https://edcitation.com/tools/library) puts this step on the book itself: each card gives the authors, publisher and year, and leads to the libraries near you that hold it. Search the ISBN of the edition you want, so the card is that edition's. On 24 September 2026 the eleventh edition's paperback ISBN, 9781032748665, returned one card: *Politics UK*, 2025, Bill Jones, Philip Norton and Isabelle Hertner. The title with Norton as author, newest first, returned four records: that card first and, lower down, an older *Politics UK* record dated 1997 whose ISBN, 9781447917533, Cite a source dates to 2019. A card found by title may carry an earlier edition's number, so its library link looks the book up by title and author, and you choose the edition there.

## What should I check before I travel to a library?

The edition, then the copy, then your right to get in. For *Politics UK*:

1. **Settle the edition.** Edinburgh's list names none; ask the course organiser.
2. **Note its ISBN.** Routledge gives 9781032748665 for the eleventh edition's paperback, 9781032748689 for the hardback and 9781003471349 for the e-book.
3. **Find the holding libraries.** Search the ISBN in EdCitation's [Library](https://edcitation.com/tools/library) and follow the card to the libraries near you, or set WorldCat's edition filter to This edition.
4. **Open the holding library's catalogue.** Confirm the edition, that a copy is available, its loan type and shelfmark.
5. **Check you can get in.** Your SCONUL Access approval or the host's visitor rules, opening hours and closures.
6. **Request what you can.** A reservation saves a wasted journey.
7. **Take the reference home.** Photograph the title and copyright pages, and build the entry in [Cite a source](https://edcitation.com/cite/apa).

### The reference, from the copy in your hands

APA 7 takes the year from the copyright page, puts the edition in brackets after the title, marks editors with "(Eds.)" and leaves out the publisher's location (American Psychological Association, 2020). Given the paperback ISBN, Cite a source, which runs without an account, returned: Jones, B., Norton, P., & Hertner, I. (2025). *Politics UK*. Routledge, Chapman & Hall. Given the e-book's DOI, 10.4324/9781003471349, it returned: Jones, B., Norton, P., & Hertner, I. (2025). *Politics UK* (11th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003471349

Both follow the records EdCitation looked up, which list the three as authors and date the book 2025: a reference is looked up, never written, so a record's gaps show. Routledge's page calls them editors and gives a 2026 copyright. If your copy's copyright page reads 2026, the entry is:

Jones, B., Norton, P., & Hertner, I. (Eds.). (2026). *Politics UK* (11th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003471349

In the text: (Jones et al., 2026). The list's "Norton et al." puts the second editor first; take the order from the title page.

### What Verify references said

[Verify references](https://edcitation.com/verify-references), which also asks for no sign-up, checked that entry and four variants on 24 September 2026:

| Entry sent | Verdict | Reason given |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The entry above | Verified | "The DOI resolves to this record and the title matches." |
| The 11th edition dated 2021 | Check this | "The publisher's record for 2021 is the 10th edition, not the 11th. Check the edition and year." |
| Jones and Norton, 10th edition, 2026 | Check this | "The publisher's record for 2025 is the 11th edition, not the 10th. Check the edition and year." |
| Jones and Norton, 11th edition, 2026 | Check this | "The publisher's record also names Hertner, who is not in your entry. Check the authors." |
| The list's order: Norton, Jones and Hertner | Check this | "The publisher's record lists Jones first, and your entry opens with Norton. Check the order of the authors." |

Check this is the doubtful verdict, with its reason; none came back "not found".

## How does EdCitation help you find and cite a library book?

EdCitation is the best place to begin with a reading-list book, because the hard part is knowing which book you are after, and EdCitation settles that from records, not from the list's words. Here the list named no edition, and the publisher's page and the records disagreed on the year; one ISBN search in the Library gave the right edition's card with the libraries near you beside it, and Verify references caught a wrong edition, a missing editor and the list's order of names. Every entry it gives is a record it found, never one it wrote.

### What each part costs

Everything this guide did in the [Library](https://edcitation.com/tools/library) needs only a free EdCitation account: the ISBN search, the filters for discipline, kind, language and year (Politics and international relations is among its 31 disciplines), a place in My Books, a buying link for a paid book, and which libraries near you hold it. Reading and borrowing books in the Library come with Max, $24 a month or $216 for a year: over 5 million of them, which EdCitation brought together in one place ([Pricing](https://edcitation.com/pricing)). [Cite a source](https://edcitation.com/cite) and [Verify references](https://edcitation.com/verify-references) run without signing up, and [Find sources](https://edcitation.com/) covers about 300 million published works for the articles a book will not supply. Which books to buy and which to borrow is in [how to build a personal library for your degree](https://edcitation.com/newsletter/build-a-personal-library-for-your-degree).

## Quick questions

### How do I find out if a library near me has a book?

Search your university's catalogue, then WorldCat, or open the book's card in EdCitation's [Library](https://edcitation.com/tools/library) for the libraries near you that hold it. Confirm the copy's status in that library's own catalogue.

### Can undergraduates borrow from other universities with SCONUL Access?

Full-time undergraduates may get reference access only. Part-time, distance-learning and placement students, postgraduates and staff may be able to borrow.

### How long does an interlibrary loan take?

It depends on the library. Edinburgh asks you to allow at least two weeks; Michigan says most physical items arrive within a week.

### What happens when my library book is recalled?

Your loan is cut short. At Edinburgh a requested Standard Loan book becomes due one week from the request.

### Why check the edition before visiting a library?

A library may hold several. Edinburgh's list gives no edition of *Politics UK*, and only the eleventh covers the 2024 election.

## References

- American Psychological Association. (2020). *Book/ebook references*. APA Style. [https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/book-references](https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples/book-references)
- Big Ten Academic Alliance. (n.d.). *Library borrowing: Reciprocal borrowing*. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from [https://btaa.org/library/programs-and-services/reciprocal-borrowing/reciprocal-borrowing](https://btaa.org/library/programs-and-services/reciprocal-borrowing/reciprocal-borrowing)
- British Library. (n.d.-a). *Cyber-attack recovery update*. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from [https://www.bl.uk/about/cyber-attack](https://www.bl.uk/about/cyber-attack)
- British Library. (n.d.-b). *On Demand*. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from [https://www.bl.uk/services/on-demand](https://www.bl.uk/services/on-demand)
- British Library. (n.d.-c). *Research*. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from [https://www.bl.uk/hubs/research](https://www.bl.uk/hubs/research)
- City of Edinburgh Council. (n.d.-a). *Borrow from the library*. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from [https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/using-library/borrowing-library](https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/using-library/borrowing-library)
- City of Edinburgh Council. (n.d.-b). *Reserve a library book, CD or DVD*. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from [https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/using-library/reservations](https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/using-library/reservations)
- Council of Australasian University Librarians. (2025, August 22). *Information for borrowers*. [https://caul.edu.au/information-for-borrowers/](https://caul.edu.au/information-for-borrowers/)
- Council of Australasian University Librarians. (2026, June 30). *ULANZ borrowing scheme*. [https://caul.edu.au/topic/ulanz-borrowing-scheme/](https://caul.edu.au/topic/ulanz-borrowing-scheme/)
- Jones, B., Norton, P., & Hertner, I. (Eds.). (2021). *Politics UK* (10th ed.). Routledge. [https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003028574](https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003028574)
- OCLC. (n.d.). *WorldCat.org: Connect people to your library and collections*. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from [https://www.oclc.org/en/worldcat-org.html](https://www.oclc.org/en/worldcat-org.html)
- OCLC. (2025, September 10). *Find an item at a nearby library*. OCLC Support. [https://help.oclc.org/Discovery_and_Reference/WorldCat-org/Find_an_item/10Find_an_item_at_a_nearby_library](https://help.oclc.org/Discovery_and_Reference/WorldCat-org/Find_an_item/10Find_an_item_at_a_nearby_library)
- Routledge. (n.d.). *Politics UK* (11th ed.). Retrieved September 24, 2026, from [https://www.routledge.com/Politics-UK/Jones-Norton-Hertner/p/book/9781032748665](https://www.routledge.com/Politics-UK/Jones-Norton-Hertner/p/book/9781032748665)
- SCONUL. (n.d.-a). *A-Z list of SCONUL Access members*. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from [https://access.sconul.ac.uk/sconul-access-members](https://access.sconul.ac.uk/sconul-access-members)
- SCONUL. (n.d.-b). *About SCONUL Access*. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from [https://access.sconul.ac.uk/about](https://access.sconul.ac.uk/about)
- SCONUL. (n.d.-c). *Frequently asked questions*. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from [https://access.sconul.ac.uk/frequently-asked-questions](https://access.sconul.ac.uk/frequently-asked-questions)
- SCONUL. (n.d.-d). *Information for students*. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from [https://access.sconul.ac.uk/user-guide](https://access.sconul.ac.uk/user-guide)
- SCONUL. (n.d.-e). *Summer vacation access*. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from [https://access.sconul.ac.uk/summer-vacation-access](https://access.sconul.ac.uk/summer-vacation-access)
- University of Edinburgh. (2024a, August 21). *About interlibrary loans*. [https://library.ed.ac.uk/using-library/request-resources/ill/ill-about](https://library.ed.ac.uk/using-library/request-resources/ill/ill-about)
- University of Edinburgh. (2024b, August 21). *How do I request an item which is on loan?* [https://library.ed.ac.uk/using-library/borrowing-a-book/books/request-items/requesting-borrowed-item](https://library.ed.ac.uk/using-library/borrowing-a-book/books/request-items/requesting-borrowed-item)
- University of Edinburgh. (2024c, August 21). *How long can I borrow a book for?* [https://library.ed.ac.uk/using-library/borrowing-a-book/books/how-long-borrow](https://library.ed.ac.uk/using-library/borrowing-a-book/books/how-long-borrow)
- University of Edinburgh. (2026). *Introduction to British politics (PLIT08016)* [Course descriptor, 2026/27]. Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study. [https://www.drps.ed.ac.uk/26-27/dpt/cxplit08016.htm](https://www.drps.ed.ac.uk/26-27/dpt/cxplit08016.htm)
- University of Michigan Library. (n.d.). *Access and use loans*. Interlibrary Loan Services. Retrieved September 24, 2026, from [https://www.lib.umich.edu/find-borrow-request/borrow-and-return/interlibrary-loan-services-ill/access-and-use-loans/](https://www.lib.umich.edu/find-borrow-request/borrow-and-return/interlibrary-loan-services-ill/access-and-use-loans/)