ECU VDX User Guide

ECU Library offers the Virtual Document eXchange (VDX) service for obtaining material outside of ECU in support of University teaching, learning and research. Students and staff eligible for interlibrary loans and document delivery may use the service, which allows:       

• Searching online for items not held by ECU
• Requesting these items
• Tracking progress of requests
• Receiving documents directly to the desktop

First time use of VDX:

Click on the VDX link from the ECU Library Online>Document Delivery Services webpage, or go to:

https://liddas.library.uwa.edu.au/ecu/zportal/zengine?VDXaction=LoginPage

In the Sign In box enter your User ID (ECU staff or student number) and Password (date of birth: format DDMMYYYY).

ECU Staff please omit leading zeros in your staff number.

The following screen will appear after signing in. The default Profile displays Catalogues to be searched according to your eligibility.

Searching and Requesting a Book or Thesis loan
(Note: Loans are not available to offshore students and staff)

1. To begin, enter your Search Terms and click GO! This example is a Book Title search:

2. Following the search, the results will be displayed:



The results can be sorted into same editions using the Merge Duplicates button. This step is optional. Note: an ISBN search can be more effective than a title search.

3.Click Merge Duplicates under Results (left of screen), enter the number of the results you wish to merge, and then click the MERGE button:

Merged result of 15 hits in the above example:


The merged list is now easier to view, e.g. Details for Record 3 displays all the hits for the 3rd ed., 1994 of the searched title, with location and availability details:

If you find the item you require is held by ECU, please collect it from the shelf, place a hold if the item is on loan, or make an intercampus request via ECU catalogue.

4. If the item is not held by ECU, click Get it! from the Search Results screen.
You do not need to select Holdings.  Rules are in place to handle these details automatically. All you have to do is search and identify an item, click Get it! Click Request via ILL on next screen:

5. Make note of the request ID number or print details for tracking purposes.

Searching and Requesting a chapter of a Book

1. Use Search & Request to enter terms.
2. When you have identified the required title, click Get it! Click Request via ILL on next screen.
3. Select Copy (Service option); enter author, chapter and pages in the Part Details section:

4. Click Submit.
5. The Copyright declaration prompt will appear for you to read and accept.
6. Make note of the request ID number or print details for tracking purposes.

Item not found?
Note: If your search results do not include your required item, either return to Search & Request to check or amend details, or use the Blank Form (links at the end of Search Results).

Please enter full citation details (full title, no abbreviations) including ISBN/ISSN if known. Use the Special Instructions box (under Additional Information) to enter your reference source and any other information which may help us locate the item.

Searching and Requesting a Journal Article

1. Use Search & Request to enter search terms.
Note: ISSN searches are often more effective than Title searches. Please do not use abbreviated words in title searches.

2. When you have identified the required title, click Get it! Click Request via ILL on next screen.

In the above example, ECU holds this title (record 3), but not the required issue (click on Details then Availability details at the end of the item record). You do not need to select holdings or select a record which indicates the issue is held. Rules are built into VDX to send your request to our preferred suppliers based on availability and cost.

3. Enter the relevant author, article title and pages in the Part Details section:

Notes: When requesting a copy you are prompted to accept the Copyright conditions.
In the Additional Information box is the item need by date which defaults to 4 weeks from request. Do not change this date to greater than 365 days from date request is placed:

4. Click the Submit button and record the request ID number or print for tracking purposes.

Tracking and Receiving Requests

When a loan request arrives at ECU from a supplying library, you receive an automatic email message indicating the item has been despatched and is on its way to your campus library hold shelf. Loan items will be posted to ECU external staff and students onshore.

When a copy request (journal article or chapter) arrives from a supplying library, you receive an automatic email message instructing you to collect your electronic document online from the Document Store.

To collect copies:
1. Under My Account, click on My Requests

2. Requests can be sorted by ILL No. (i.e. request number), Author, Title or Need by date but cannot be searched individually by ILL no. The first item shown here is a journal article with a Status of Received.


3. Click on View then scroll to the bottom of the request to Attached Documents:

4. Click on the PDF file or TIFF Picture link to open the copy. In order to open documents, you need to have a PDF viewer (e.g. Adobe) and TIFF viewer (e.g. AlternaTIFF from www.alternatiff.com) installed on your PC. These document viewers are installed on ECU computers.

Note: Copies will disappear 5 days after first being viewed, or after being opened 5 times, so download and print them immediately!

5. Click on Next Request:
With a status of Received, this indicates the loan item has been despatched and is on its way to your home campus library Hold Shelf to be collected.

Status messages

The following Status messages may appear on your requests: