How to Create a Book Request

This article will cover the following: 

• Searching for a book 
• Searching: records 
• What to do if a search result includes incorrect info 
• Searching: Permissions 
• Page Ranges 
• Adding Extract Details to your Request 

Searching for a Book  
When searching for book titles the system searches; 

The DCS bibliographic database (including records created manually by other users) and 

Vault, which stores publisher supplied (previously born digital) content and associated metadata used by the DCS.  
 
The first stage of creating a book extract combines two checks into a single search:  
-Is there already a record for this title in the DCS?  
-Is the title covered for use under the CLA HE Licence?  
 
If a title is found in Vault – this means a publisher supplied PDF may already be available later in the workflow, allowing the extract to be generated instantly without uploading a scan.  
 
Searching: Records  
When searching for a book, we strongly recommend using an ISBN in the first instance; as this gives the most accurate results.  

If the search returns NO results found for the bibliographic record (rather than the licence status) you can try, searching again using; 

The book title

Removing any trailing spaces from the ISBN 

You can also search using the title, author or publisher, and then use the column filters in the search results table (ISN, Title, Author, Publisher) to help identify the correct record. 
 
If the book is not available, you can create one using the Add New Record option. 

• If the ISBN is correct, continue with your request using that record and contact DCS Support to report the metadata issue.
• If the ISBN is incorrect, you should create a new record for the title.

Please note:

• ISBNs cannot be amended on existing book records.
• If you proceed with a request using a record that has the wrong ISBN, you will need to start again using a correctly created record.

To report incorrect metadata, email [e-mail] with details of what needs correcting.

Searching: permissions

Once you have selected the correct record (or added one manually), you should check whether the title is permitted for use under your CLA HE Licence.

Below the title metadata, you will see the Licence Verification panel. This displays the same information as the Check Permissions tool on the CLA website (excluding photocopying permissions, which are not relevant in the DCS).

Licence statuses are shown as follows:

 Green tick – the title is covered for scanning and/or digital copying

 Red cross – the title is excluded and cannot be used under the CLA Licence

Amber result – the title was not found in the Check Permissions database

Click View details to see further information about the permissions for the title. 
 

Note: 
If a title is excluded, you may wish to contact the publisher directly to request permission. You can still use the DCS for non‑CLA licensed material, provided you have secured permission by other means.

If you believe a title has been excluded incorrectly, or you receive an amber result and are unsure whether the title can be used, you can contact the CLA Education team for advice.

Page ranges

Once you have found the correct record, you can enter the page range for the extract you wish to digitise.

Page ranges should be entered using the following format:

• Consecutive pages: 1–10
• Single pages: 25
• Multiple ranges: 1–10, 25, 32, 35–37

Consecutive page ranges should be separated by a dash, and non‑consecutive ranges by a comma.

Roman numerals

You can include Roman numeral page ranges, but these must always be entered separately from Arabic numerals.

For example:

• ✅ vii–xxi, 1–10
• ❌ vii–10

This is because the DCS cannot determine the total number of pages if Roman and Arabic numerals are combined in a single range.

Adding extract details to your request

Once the request has been created, book requests include an Extract Details section.

This is where you can add details such as:

• chapter title
• chapter author
• chapter number

These details are used to populate the automatically generated Copyright Notice for CLA‑licensed content.

You can update these details at any time by clicking the edit button. 

If the request was created from an academic request and these details were supplied, they will populate automatically. 
 
If a piece of content is available it will appear under the Source Content tab of the page.

This feature requires an exact page range match. If the source content uses a slightly different page range, selecting the source will update your request page range automatically, after which you can try sourcing the extract details again. Other page ranges for the title will also appear under the ‘View other page ranges for this title.’