DOCLINE® Participation Guidelines
What is DOCLINE?
DOCLINE is the interlibrary loan (ILL) request routing system owned by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) that serves the wider biomedical library community.
The system is intended for reciprocal ILL among biomedical libraries in the United States and Canada. It supports resource sharing among participating libraries by enabling them to borrow from and lend to one another; it is not an article purchasing mechanism.
Libraries that are unable to fully participate in DOCLINE may apply for a NLM Only DOCLINE account.
Who can use DOCLINE?
Full Participant:
Libraries with a health sciences or biomedical literature collection and mission, within the U.S. or Canada, may participate in DOCLINE. Participating libraries list a minimum of 10 journals from which they will fulfill lending requests for other DOCLINE libraries.
NLM Only Participant:
Libraries who cannot lend and libraries located outside of the U.S. and Canada who would like to borrow only from NLM.
Not Part of a Library:
Individuals not affiliated with a library and commercial document delivery vendors are not eligible for DOCLINE membership.
If you want to discuss your library’s DOCLINE participation, contact DOCLINE Support.
How to Join DOCLINE
As a Full Participant:
Once you have determined that DOCLINE is appropriate for your library and that library staff are available to perform DOCLINE lending, borrowing, and recommended library updates:
- Use the Apply Now button on the DOCLINE home page.
- Select “I am a US or Canadian library with 10 or more biomedical journals to lend. (New Library)” on the Sign up for DOCLINE page.
- Fill out the form with your library information.
- Once your account request has been verified, NNLM DOCLINE Coordinators will work with you to establish a basic DOCLINE Library Profile. Once the holdings have been established with the minimum requirement, the NNLM Coordinator will switch your new account type from NLM Only to Full Participant.
- To set up DOCLINE user account(s) for your institution, go to the Apply Now button on the DOCLINE home page. Then select “I am part of a library in DOCLINE, and I would like a user account. (New User Account)” to establish the new user accounts.
- Each individual user must have an external account to sign into the system. (See manual section 1.8 for more information).
To do so, participants should:
• Update their Library Profile, including billing and delivery addresses
• Establish Borrowing preferences, including Routing Tables
• Configure Lending Options, including schedule and service offerings
• Create at least ten (10) DOCLINE Journal holdings records
Once established, libraries are encouraged to follow DOCLINE Library Best Practices, listed below.
As a NLM Only Participant:
This type of account is for libraries that would like to borrow only from NLM.*
- Use the Apply Now button on the DOCLINE home page.
- Select “I am a library but do not have 10 or more biomedical journals to lend. (New Library - Request from NLM Only)” on the Sign up for DOCLINE page.
- Fill out the form with your library information.
- If your account request is approved, you will receive an email confirmation. You must update your Library Profile, including billing and delivery addresses and routing information.
- To set up DOCLINE user account(s) for your institution, go to the Apply Now button on the DOCLINE home page. Then select “I am part of a library in DOCLINE, and I would like a user account. (New User Account)” to establish the new user accounts.
- Each individual user must have an external account to sign into the system. (See manual section 1.8 for more information).
Library Recommended Best Practices
Following these recommendations ensures requests route quickly and accurately through the system and provides the most efficient ILL for both lenders and borrowers.
- Configure Lend Alerts (pg. 45 in user manual) to ensure timely Receipt and Update of Requests.
- Use Library Schedule and Out of Office dates to reflect Library’s availability.
- Lend to other DOCLINE libraries.
- Follow copyright law and/or guidelines as appropriate.
- Annually review and update your Library Profile and Routing Tables.
- Annually review and update a minimum of ten (10) DOCLINE Journal Holdings Records for journals from which you can provide ILL.
- Notify DOCLINE Support of any changes to your library’s participation in DOCLINE.
- Subscribe to NLM's DOCLINE-L Email Discussion List to stay informed about the system.
Libraries may also:
- Contact DOCLINE Technical Support to report issues or to submit feedback.
- Submit new (within scope) journal titles to NLM for inclusion in DOCLINE.
Last Reviewed: November 15, 2023