One of the major tasks of the "Specialised Information Service" is to make specialised research literature easily available.

Interlibrary Loan

You can find and order items from the CATS library / South Asia department via HEIDI (Heidelberg Electronic Library Information System) and via the Interlibrary Loan Portal. Results in metasearch tools such as KVK or CrossAsia Search also link to ILL.
Interlibrary loan is possible if you are registered with a German library or with a library using the IFLA voucher payment system.

For titles not yet available in our collection you are welcome to send an acquisition request.

Document Supply Service Subito

We participate in subito, the document delivery service of academic libraries in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein. We scan and send articles from our collection to researchers registered with Subito within these countries, so you can have them when and where you need them. You can also borrow books (publication year 1900 onwards), these are supplied to your home address by parcel service.
Researchers based in other countries can contact the library they are registered with and profit by the Subito Library Service.

Please view the Subito information on customer groups and pricing.
By placing an order you are confirming and guaranteeing that you bear the costs and respect copyright.

Some items that need to be handled with special care might be supplied via interlibrary loan for use in the reading room of your academic or public library.

Our Digitisation on Demand service is an option to initiate a free version in electronic formats of works in the public domain, i.e. titles whose authors died more than 70 years ago.

Blauer Leihverkehr Service

University departments and research institutions can sign a special loan agreement with the CATS Library / South Asia Department so that their members may borrow items from our collection in South Asian languages for an extended loan period via the Blauer Leihverkehr Service.
Search results in HEIDI (Heidelberg Electronic Library Information System) link to this service.

Purchase Request

You can't find the item you need?

Do not hesitate to submit a purchase request and we will look into acquiring it.