Document Delivery Services - Frequently Asked Questions

The most frequently asked questions concerning Document Delivery Services are listed below. For additional information or to submit a question, please contact Ask a Librarian.

Document Delivery Services are available to Memorial Sloan-Kettering students and staff in support of their work. Patients, family members, and caregivers can contact the library for information about obtaining journal articles.

Document Delivery Services staff provide electronic delivery of articles and book chapters held by other libraries and in the print collections of MSKCC Library. Requests for entire books not held by MSKCC may also be obtained through InterLibrary Loan, and may be submitted using the DDS form. We encourage users to check our growing electronic journals and ebook collections prior to requesting items.

Three Ways:

1. Use our Citation Linker (also available on the DDS login page) to search for your known citations and connect to most full text articles in our eJournals collection.

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2. Search our electronic journals page to browse the collection or search by title. When using the "Search by Title" feature, we recommend that you enter the full journal title. And navigate to the citation you need.

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3. You can also search by the PubMed ID (PMID) to link directly to the abstract on PubMed.

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Then link to the article using the full text button on the PubMed page.

See the next FAQ topic for how to find PMIDs.

a) In cases where you can automatically access the article, the next menu will look like this:

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Follow the “GO” buttons to link to the publisher site. The PDF may open automatically or you may have to navigate to it depending on the publisher’s site structure. 

b) In cases where we can’t link directly to the article, the menu will look like this:

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If you have searched by journal title and PubMed ID (PMID) without success, please submit a request to Document Delivery Services.

Search for the article title in the PubMed field from the Library homepage or on PubMed.

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Or

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If multiple results appear, select the correct title and scroll down to the bottom of the abstract for the PMID number.

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If the article doesn’t come up from searching the title or you only have the citation, use PubMed’s Single Citation Matcher.

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After registering, you can log in to the site with your five digit employee ID number. The Document Delivery Service is available to employees of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center with valid MSKCC email addresses only.

To cancel or edit a request, please email ill@mskcc.org or call 212-639-7441. To ensure prompt delivery or prompt cancellation, include your request identification number (which is located on the status page in your account and begins with DDS) in your email message.

When your document has been obtained, you will receive an email message containing a link to the article. Please save the files to your workspace as they will only be available in your account for a limited time.

Your document is available from the “Status” area of your DDS account for 90 days before being deleted automatically. Please save files to your workspace.

The Library's policy is to respect the proprietary rights of the copyright owners. Library staff adhere to the copyright law when borrowing or copying material on behalf of our users. The following copyright notice appears on the Library's Document Delivery Services request form:

• COPYRIGHT NOTICE: The copy law of the U.S. (Title 17 U.S. 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. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is 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. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law. By using Electronic Document Delivery service you expressly agree to comply with Copyright Law.

Copyright also impacts the use of electronic resources. Databases, eJournals, and eBooks are subject to all terms and conditions of their license agreements and copyright provisions.

By registering, you will be able to take full advantage of Document Delivery Services. The registration form is quick and easy to complete. Registration benefits include:

• Having your email address on file with the Document Delivery Services enables us to notify you promptly and deliver articles and book chapters electronically.
• You will be able to check the status of your requests, view items you have requested, and access articles you requested in the past 90 days.

Every time you use Document Delivery Services, the following options are available to you:

• Ability to check the status of your requests.
• Download full text of each item you requested in the past 90 days.
• Edit your personal information at any time. Simply log into the Document Delivery Services page and click on "Edit Your Profile".