Borrow and download
Borrowing at BTH Library
Library card
Anyone is welcome to apply for a library account. If you are a BTH-student, you can use your BTH card as your library card. Activate your library account in the Student portal.
You are responsible for all loans carried out with the card. If you change your address or mobile number, please contact us. If you’re a student, you can update your address yourself in the student portal.
Distance student
If you are registered to a distance course and live in Sweden, you can get books delivered to your home address. Learn more about this and our service for distance students.
Library service for distance students
Loans
Use our lending stations to issue books.
Reference literature must be borrowed before you take it with you – even if you’re just planning to sit and read in the library.
Loan period
The loan period for books is normally 3 weeks. Books that are reserved by other patrons have a loan period of 7 days.
Same-day loans (reference literature) must be returned the same day. Remember to borrow the book even when you read it in the library.
You will receive a reminder from us via SMS and e-mail when the loan period is about to end. If there is no queue, you can renew the loan. There is a link to the renewal of loans in the message.
Reservations
If the book you are looking for is issued, you can reserve it. This means that when the book is returned to the library, it is set aside for you, and you will receive an e-mail or SMS that you can collect it. A reserved book is kept on a shelf to the right of the lending stations for 3 work days, after that the reservation is deleted.
Do not join the queue if the book is available in the library!
The person who first retrieves the book from the shelf always has priority, regardless of whether there is a queue. It’s always smarter to get the book yourself if it’s on the shelf.
Renewals
You can easily renew a book loan yourself via our website, using your library card number and pin code. You may then keep the book for another 3 weeks. If you want to renew interlibrary loans you must contact the library’s information desk.
E-mail address to the library: biblioteket@bth.se
Renewal of loans will not be accepted if another patron has reserved the book in question, or if you’ve been suspended from borrowing (e.g., if you haven’t returned books on time).
Please note that a book loan can only be renewed 5 times this way. If you want to renew the book a sixth time you must come to the information desk.
Returning loans
Books are returned at the lending stations. When the library is closed you can return books in the book drop outside the library entrance.
Interlibrary loans
You can order books that are not held by the library as interlibrary loans by using the form below. Please note that we can not order books that we already hold. This means that if one of our books is already issued, we will not order another copy of the same title as an interlibrary loan.
The delivery time varies, but it is at least one week in general. The loan period can also vary, but in general, it is at least 3 weeks. Interlibrary loans are free of charge.
The form can also be used to suggest purchases for the library.
Books that are held only at one of our two library departments (Gräsvik or Piren) can be ordered and are delivered in 1-2 days.
If you are not a BTH student or staff, you should primarily contact your nearest public library when you want to order an interlibrary loan.
Journals
You can read the print journals at the library. We do not lend our journals, but if you have a BTH-account you can copy or scan articles.
Copies of articles from journals we do not hold can be ordered from other libraries.
Please note that many journals are available in full text in our electronic journal databases which you have access to through the institute’s network.
Overdue books and reminders
Books or other media borrowed from the BTH Library shall be returned within the specified loan period.
In the case of overdue books/media, a recall is sent as a reminder to the patron, one week after the end of the loan period. The recall is sent by e-mail.
Three weeks after the loan period has expired, an invoice for the issued book/media is sent to the patron. The cost for lost or damaged media depends on the cost of replacing the item.
For overdue/lost/damaged interlibrary loans, the lending library’s regulations apply.
Patrons who have received an invoice for books/media, or a recall for a reserved item, are suspended from loans until the books/media are returned or the invoice is paid.
Secrecy regulations
Your personal data will be processed according to the General Data Protection Regulation (EU 2016/679) and other relevant data protection legislation. Your personal data will not be disclosed to third persons/organizations in accordance with the right to secrecy for library activities (Chapter 40. § 3 The Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009: 400))
Borrow and read e-books
You can find our e-books in Summon. Start by searching for your subject. Then, in the search results, you can refine your search by selecting “Book/eBook” as the context type and checking the box for “full Text only.”
You can also search directly in an individual e-book database. Here you can see our various e-book databases and the subject areas they cover.
As a student or staff at BTH, you have access to our e-books even from your own computer. Keep in mind that you need to search for the e-books through Summon or the library’s databases; otherwise, you won’t be able to access them.
