Avanti Document Delivery Service

What is Avanti?

Avanti is an "electronic photocopy" delivery service which lets you request articles for transmission to you via the web. Your requested articles are scanned into bitmapped PDF files (Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format) and posted on the web in your own password-protected account. You can read your articles online, print them, or save a copy at your desktop for reference.

Who is eligible for Avanti services?

Through funding from the Division of Physical Sciences and the San Diego Supercomputer Center, the Science and Engineering Library offers Avanti services to the faculty, staff and graduate students of the Physics, Mathematics, and Chemistry/Biochemistry departments, the San Diego Supercomputer Center. If you are not a member of one of the departments listed above, Avanti service is currently not available to you.

NEW PILOT Starting October 1, 2008, the Science & Engineering Library offers Avanti services to faculty, staff, and graduate students in the Jacobs School of Engineering.

How do I sign up for Avanti?

Signing up for S&E Avanti service is simple. Just fill out the form below. Our staff will send you a username, password and instructions on how to access your scanned articles.

Register Now

What kind of articles may I request?

You may request articles from journals and books found in the Science & Engineering Library's collections. Any item not found in the UCSD Libraries automatically will be filled through Interlibrary Loan.

We won't send articles that are available already in electronic format through one of the libraries' electronic journals subscriptions. Please make sure that the articles you need that are published more recently (approximately 1996 and later) are not available through one of our electronic journal subscriptions directly from the publisher.

Articles need to be 50 pages or fewer, and if you have a large number of articles you must prioritize them according to those you wish to get first.

Materials held at SIO will be added to your account. Allow an extra half-day for delivery of material not held at your "home" library.

Materials found only at the Biomedical Library (BML) are not eligible for the subsidized Avanti article delivery service. A budget number is required for articles from the Biomedical and other "upper-campus" libraries' journals. Use the Biomedical Library article request form for desktop delivery of journals found at BML or at the BML Annex.

Do not use Avanti for course reserves' articles. Use Electronic Reserves to post class readings.

How do I request articles?

Once you have registered for Avanti service and obtained a username and password, just send us an e-mail with the complete citations of the material you require.

• E-mail a request to scilib@ucsd.edu with "Avanti Article Request" as the subject line.

Where do I find my articles?

• You will be notified via E-mail when your requested documents are ready for viewing. Each E-Mail notification will contain a web link and instructions on how to access your document. Look for E-mail notifications with the subject line "S&E Library Document Delivery Notification" -- your cue that your document is ready for viewing or downloading!
• Follow the link in the e-mail you receive. Login using your e-mail address and the password. A list of your requested articles will appear. They will be in PDF – you probably already have installed the Adobe Acrobat Reader software, or you can download it for free.
  • The system automatically removes documents after 30 days or if it has been viewed 25 times, whichever comes first. Ask if you need access to a specific article for a longer period of time.

Copyright issues

You may make one print or one electronic copy of requested articles. You may not post the article on the Internet. The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, US Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. Under the "fair use" provision of the law, photocopies or reproductions may be made if they not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement.