The library material is available to students, Erasmus students, University’s teaching staff, visiting professors, University staff, staff from partner institutions and external users who have an interest in the collections.

The reading room is primarily intended for the use of the collections and services. Admission to the reading room for the purpose of study using personal materials is permitted on a seat availability basis, as verified by library staff.

For more information, please consult the Charter of Services.

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University of Milan students, Erasmus students, University teaching staff, visiting professors, University staff, staff from partner institutions and users from partner hospital centres, are all registered with the library’s borrowing service.
Interested external users can request temporary registration by submitting a completed application form filled in and signed by a member of the teaching staff or researcher from the University. The form can be collected in person from the library or downloaded from the Library Service portal.

Online services. Users can access the personal area of the Catalogue (My library account) and the bibliounimi app to:

• send a loan request; the reader has 3 days to collect the volumes;
• reserve books that are currently out on loan; when the reserved volumes are returned, the  library will email the user by the following day to notify them. The user then has 3 working  days in which to collect the documents;
• request a renewal.

Renewal is allowed starting four days from the due date, as long as the books have not been reserved by others. Renewals cannot be authorised for books that have exceeded their loan due date.

Failure to return items by their due date will result in the user being barred from services provided at all Library Service libraries until the item is returned; the return of an item more than three days after its due date will result in the user being suspended from using the library service for twice the number of days overdue.
Students who fail to return items within 60 days of their due date will have a temporary block put on their academic studies and will be excluded from exam sessions; the block will be removed once the borrowed item is returned; however, the student’s suspension from using the library service will remain in place.

There are different types of loans:

a) standard loan

	Students and those of similar status	University teaching staff, technical and administrative staff, staff from partner institutions, and those of similar status	External users with  Malleveria*
How many items?	at least 20 volumes	at least 20 volumes	3 volumes
For how long?	30 days	60 days	30 days
Loan renewals	60 days as a whole (30 day each renewal)	120 days as a whole (60 day each renewal)	60 days as a whole (30 day each renewal)

* Guarantee form filled in and signed by a member of the University’s teaching staff. The form can be collected from the library in person or downloaded from the library’s web pages.

b) course reserve

	Biomedical and Science Libraries	Humanities, Law, Economics, Politics and Social Sciences Libraries
How many items?	4 volumes	4 volumes
For how long?	30 days	15 days
Loan renewals	60 days as a whole (30 day each renewal)	30 days as a whole (15 day each renewal)

c) Loan of Diritto allo Studio  (Education Incentive Programme) books
The service provides access to course reserve material put together with the contribution of the Lombardy Region as part of the raft of measures in the Education Incentive Programme.

The service is provided in the following libraries:
Biomedical volumes
- Biblioteca Biomedica di Città Studi, via Valvassori Peroni 21
- Biblioteca del Polo centrale di medicina e chirurgia, via della Commenda 19
- Biblioteca del Polo centrale di medicina e chirurgia. Sez. di Dermatologia, via Pace 9
Science volumes
- Biblioteca Biomedica di Città Studi, via Valvassori Peroni 21
- Biblioteca di Informatica. Crema branch, via Bramante 65, Crema
Humanities, Law and Economics-Social Sciences volumes
- Biblioteca di Studi giuridici e umanistici. Sala del Settecento, via Festa del Perdono 7
- Biblioteca del Polo di mediazione interculturale e comunicazione, piazza Montanelli 11, Sesto San Giovanni.

d) Intra-system loans
Intra-system loans allow users to request and collect from the library books that are available for loan by other libraries in the System, with the exception of books from the Course reserve in sciences, humanities, law, economics, political and social sciences, and other material reserved for teaching and research purposes, reference works and damaged or fragile volumes.

 The volumes must be returned to the library where they were requested. This service is reserved to students, Erasmus students, University teaching staff, visiting professors, University staff and staff from partner institutions.

The service is not provided between libraries located on the same premises or adjacent premises: neither is it available at the via Festa del Perdono site or between the libraries located in the Città Studi district (Biblioteca di Agraria; Biblioteca Biomedica di Città Studi; Biblioteca Matematica; Biblioteca di Scienze della Terra).

e) Overnight and weekend loans
When the library is closed for a brief period, the service allows users to borrow volumes that are not normally available for loan. Some types of items are excluded from the service, such as old, rare and valuable volumes, dictionaries, encylopedias and special materials.
This service is not provided by every library.

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The library provides the following interlibrary services to students, Erasmus students, University teaching staff, visiting professors, University staff and staff from partner institutions, as well as to users from hospital centres.

a) Interlibrary loans, i.e. ordering books not held in the Library Service libraries from other libraries in Italy and abroad;
b) Document Delivery, i.e. ordering copies of journal articles and book chapters not held in the Library Service libraries from other libraries in Italy and abroad;
c) Intrasystem Document Delivery, i.e. ordering printed copies of journal articles and book chapters from other libraries in the University. The service is not provided between libraries located on the same premises or adjacent premises: neither is it available at the via Festa del Perdono site or between the libraries located in the Città Studi district (Biblioteca di Agraria; Biblioteca Biomedica di Città Studi; Biblioteca Matematica; Biblioteca di Scienze della Terra).

The services are provided with due regard for current copyright regulations and specific licence agreements covering certain types of resources, within the limits established for the purposes of preservation, and according to the conditions laid down by the supplying library.
Please note that the copy of the document requested through the Document Delivery service cannot be sent by email but must be collected from the library in person, regardless of its original format.

Service parameters:

Service	Number of requests
Interlibrary loan	at least 3 concurrent requests
Document Delivery	at least 5 requests per week

Document Delivery requests must be sent to the library through the NILDE user account (users will be required to register when accessing the service for the first time). The service is provided free of charge. If the supplying library requires payment for its service and/or reimbursement of the costs of photocopying and postage, such costs must be authorised in advance by the reader's supervisor to which the charge will be debited.  
Interlibrary loan service: if the supplying library requires payment for its service and/or reimbursement of the costs incurred, such costs will be covered by the Library if less than € 5; amounts above this must be authorised in advance by the reader’s supervisor, to which the charge will be debited.

Delays in returning documents received through the interlibrary loan system, and damage to or failure to return borrowed materials will result in sanctions as envisaged under the borrowing service.
Users who fail to collect requested material or pay the reimbursement costs will lose access to library services until the account has been settled.

 

LIBRARIES AND DOCUMENTATION CENTRES AT OTHER INSTITUTIONS
Through the interlibrary loan and Document Delivery systems the library makes its resources available to those libraries and documentation centres that request access to them.

Requests for interlibrary loans must be sent to biblio.bicf@unimi.it, with the bibliographical details of the requested document and the details of the requesting library. The loan lasts 30 days from the time the item is sent to its due back date. The service is provided free of charge.
Document Delivery service requests must be sent to the the Library via the NILDE circuit. The service is provided free of charge.

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Library staff help users navigate the library services in the first instance and to provide basic assistance for searching the catalogues and using the printed and digital collections.
With regard to the library's field of specialisation, by appointment the library provides personal assistance for specialist bibliographical searches and compilation of bibliographies, and help in developing effective search strategies. It also offers tips for the advanced use of catalogues and other bibliographic search tools, both printed and online, as well as help in finding information and even documents where possible.

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The library offers all users a self-service photocopying service which allows them to make photocopies and print documents.
Service charges can be paid using cards which can be purchased from automatic card dispensers located on the University's premises.

Italian copyright law permits photocopying of up to 15% of the pages in a printed volume or journal issue. It is possible to print copies of Digital Library search results within the limits of individual licence agreements with publishers.
Photocopying is not permitted where there is any risk to the condition of the material.

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The PCs in the library provide access to the University Catalogue, the University Library Service portal, the Digital Library and other key online resources for study and research.
Users must identify themselves using their University login details to browse Internet sites other than the University’s websites.

Users who have a University email account can access the University’s wireless network from their own computers, smartphones or tablets in Eduroam mode. The service is also available to external users from member institutions of the Eduroam Federation of Universities and Research Institutes (access to the Digital Library is not available to logged in external users).

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The library offers orientation and training sessions on the services, resources and tools available in its area of specialisation, with the general aim of improving information literacy.

Classes are taught in Italian. The schedule of courses and information in Italian are available on the University’s library service portal.

At the request of science students and teaching staff (contact biblio.bicf@unimi.it), the library can organise short introductory courses taught in Italian on the library and its services, search tools and resources.

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