Your first step is to use the search form to locate the work you wish to borrow. You can either specify composer name, work title and publisher. Or you can simply specify composer name and work title to see all available editions of a musical work that are held by our membership. To browse works available for hire by a specific composer, just enter a composer name. If you only enter a work title, you will retrieve a list of editions held by our societies that most closely matching that title.

Search results are in the form of summary lists. Click on the "View" tab next to any summary to see that work's full details and how many copies are available for hire. Then specify the number of copies or sets that you wish to borrow and the dates during which you will need them.

The online Music Exchange Scheme will then recommend societies from which you can borrow and the number of copies you should request from each. It is specially configured to miminize fragmentation of sets, so please pursue its recommendations.

Having seen the loan recommendation made by the website, you may either pursue the hire or save the details of the loan for a later date. If you choose to pursue the hire, the website:

1. Provisionally reserves the music on your behalf for fourteen days.
2. Emails you librarian contact details and a website address to which you must return to either confirm the loan is going ahead or to clear it.

The responsibility then lies with the borrowing society to contact the lending society and confirm the loan. The borrowing society is also responsible for returning to the website to confirm the provisional loan is going ahead or to clear it.

Please note: During the fourteen days that your provisional loan is active, no other society can pursue a hire of the music you have reserved during the dates you have specified.

If you do not return to the website to confirm your loan within fourteen days, it will "expire" and the music will appear available to other societies. Please save other librarians time and effort by confirming or clearing your provisional loans within fourteen days. However, should you experience genuine difficulty making contact with a lending librarian in this time period, please email us to request an extension.

The online Music Exchange Scheme is a work in progress. So if you notice errors or omissions pertaining to your society holdings or specific works in the database, please email us using the link on the relevant page.