Requests are processed as soon as possible. Photocopies of these documents can, however, be obtained, subject to the Copyright Law of South Africa. Other clients pay a minimum of R20.00 per item, depending on costs incurred by the Inter-Library Loans section. Loan periods vary, depending on the policy of the supplying library. Generally a client can expect to have the use of a book for a period of between 4 and 8 weeks.
Overseas loans are generally available to the user for a few days only.
International loans are sent out for a period of 3 months. Requests to and from other institutions are sent online, using various systems already in place in the Inter-library world. Fax and mail options are available for those institutions which do not have online access. Ariel, was the very fast messenger in a Shakespearean play. Using commercially available hardware and RLG's Ariel software, users can scan articles, photographs and similar documents, transmit the resulting electronic images through their Ethernet LAN over the Internet to other Ariel workstations and print them on a laser printer.