DocXpress Document Delivery Service

How to Use DocXpress

Watch this video for a brief overview of how to use DocXpress.

Who Can Use DocXpress?

You are eligible to use Lane Library's DocXpress Document Delivery service if you are:

  • A student, faculty, or staff member at Stanford School of Medicine
  • A staff member at Stanford Hospital and Clinics or Lucille Packard Children's Hospital
  • A student in a Stanford Bioengineering/BioX program
  • A Stanford undergraduate student in HumBio majors

Please note: Stanford University users not affiliated with the School of Medicine, including undergraduates who are not HumBio or BioX majors, must use Stanford University Libraries Interlibrary Borrowing service.

For more detailed information about your affiliate status, see our Who Can Use Lane Library page.

What Are the Fees?

Free of Charge

Requests for PDFs of journal articles and book chapters from resources that are not accessible through Lane Library.

Duplicate Fees

You will be charged $15 for duplicate requests for articles or book chapters you previously requested. To avoid this fee, please download PDFs from your DocXpress account within 30 days.

Scan on Demand Fees

DocXpress will scan to PDF articles and book chapters from materials within Lane Library's print collection. Requests are made using the same DocXpress form. Scan on Demand does not supply materials from the Medical History Center. Please contact them to request copies of historical materials.

There is no charge for scanning items from Lane Library's print collection if:

  • Your request is 20 pages or less
  • You make 40 requests or less per academic year (July 1-June 30)

You will be charged when:

  • Your request is 21 pages or longer. There is a $5 base fee plus 20¢ per page after the first 20 pages (i.e.: a request for a 21 page article will cost $5.20)
  • You make 41 or more requests. There is a $5 base fee for requests fewer than 20 pages. For requests greater than 20 pages, there is a $5 base fee plus 20¢ per page after the first 20 pages.

For requests to scan articles/book chapters from materials from other Stanford libraries, you will be charged:

  • A $10 base fee for 1-20 page requests
  • A $10 base fee plus 20¢ per page after the first 20 pages for requests 21 pages or longer
Billing and Payment

A monthly invoice is sent to you by e-mail attachment for requests filled within each calendar month.

We accept the following payments:

  • PTA
  • Personal check
  • Cash (exact amount only, payable in-person at Lane Library's Information Desk)
  • Credit Card

How Long Does It Take To Get Materials?

We process DocXpress requests Monday-Friday from 8:00 am - 4:30pm.

PDF Requests

The average turnaround time for normal requests is usually 1-2 business days.

Rush and Urgent Patient Care Requests

We will do our best to obtain articles as quickly as possible, usually the same day. This service is not available on weekends.

Borrowing Books From Other Libraries

Books usually arrive in 1-2 weeks. You will receive an email notification when the book has arrived at Lane Library and is ready for you to pick up.

How to Create an Account

A Stanford.edu or Stanford hospital email address is required to create an account. Gmail and other addresses will not be accepted.

For First Time Users
  1. From the DocXpress homepage, select "First time users: Register"
  2. You must agree to the terms of Lane Library's copyright notice
  3. Complete the registration form with your Stanford.edu or Stanford hospital email address. Passwords must be at least 8 characters long, include at least one upper and lower case letter, and at least one number. Please do not use your SUNet ID/password for this account. The DocXpress system is completely separate from the university network.
  4. You may begin placing requests immediately

How to Make a Request

There are three options for making requests through DocXpress. If you have any trouble making a request, please contact us.

Option 1: Make a Request with a PMID or DOI
  1. Login to DocXpress and choose "Article" under "New Request" in the side navigation menu
  2. Enter the PMID or DOI number for the article you want to request
  3. The request form will auto populate with the article information. Enter any special instructions and submit your request.
Option 2: Request an Article Using the FindIt@Stanford Button within PubMed
  1. Start at the library website to search for your article using Lane Search or connect to PubMed from the library's website.
  2. Display the PubMed record for the article. You will see a "Stanford" button in the upper right. Click on this button. This takes you to the FindIt@Stanford page.
  3. The FindIt@Stanford page will show if the full-text of the article is available through Lane Library. If it is not available, select "Lane DocXpress Document Delivery Service" under the heading, "Request Article." The login screen for DocXpress will appear.
  4. Login into DocXpress with your username and password.
  5. The details of the article will auto-populate the fields of the request form.
  6. Enter any special instructions. Select from the drop-down menu for "Rush" and "Urgent Patient Care" if applicable.
  7. Click on the "Submit Request"
Option 3: Manually Enter Item Information
  1. You may manually enter citation information into the request form. Please provide as much information as possible.
  2. Enter any special instructions if needed.
  3. Click "Submit Request"
Retrieving your article

Email notifications are sent when articles have been delivered to your account. Log into your DocXpress account. You can download the article for 30 days from your account.

Renewing Borrowed Books

You can submit a renewal request by email.

Approval for renewal requests may take 1-2 business days. Renewals are not guaranteed.

Approval for renewal are subject to the renewal policy of the lending library. We cannot renew materials without permission from the lending library.

If a renewal request is denied and you still need the item, please return the book to Lane Library and then submit a new request for the same book. Staff will borrow the same book from another library.

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. 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 ," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

When scanning materials and requesting copies from other libraries, we follow the following guidelines to avoid violating copyright:

  • 1 article per issue per person published in the last 5 years, maximum 40 pages
  • Articles older than 5 years: 3 articles per issue or 20%, whichever is less
  • If an article takes up an entire issue, then we will not scan due to copyright
  • Books: scan up to 1 chapter or 10% or 20 pages per person, whichever is less
  • Per book title, if another request from the same person comes in a day or month or years later we decline and ask them to check-out the book themselves