Interlibrary Loan Policy
What is Interlibrary Loan?
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a service allowing students, faculty, and staff to borrow books, articles, and other materials from select libraries. Requests are generally initiated through the Online Computer Library Center Database (OCLC), an international network of thousands of participating libraries.
Who is Eligible for Interlibrary Loan Services?
Students, faculty, and staff of Guilford College are all eligible for Interlibrary Loan privileges. Borrowing privileges may be suspended, however, if a patron fails to return borrowed materials, or fails to pay any invoices in a timely manner.
Interlibrary Loan Charges
Interlibrary Loan is a free service with few exceptions.
Sometimes the lending library will charge for lending books and for photocopying articles. If this occurs, students, faculty, and staff may have to pay a percentage of the amount on the invoice.
Interlibrary Loan Limitations & Restrictions
- The Access Services Dept. will process up to 5 book requests and up to 5 article requests per week for each patron. When requesting more than 5 items of each type, a patron may be asked to indicate priority.
- Interlibrary Loans cannot be placed On Reserve for a course.
Requests will not be processed between December 15 and January 03.
Duration of Loans
The loan period, renewals, charges, and conditions of use are determined by the lending library.
If a renewal is necessary, a request for a renewal must be made one week before the date the item is due back in the Hege Library. Late items will not be renewed.
Materials Unavailable Through Interlibrary Loan
- Rare, fragile, or bulky items.
- Reference books, theses, dissertations, and materials in special collections.
- Audiovisual materials.
Procedures for Submitting Requests
All requests must be submitted on the Interlibrary Loan form. One form should be submitted for each request.
Before submitting a request, a patron is responsible for the following:
- Searching PALS and/or the Journal Holdings List to determine whether the Hege Library owns the item. If the item(s) is owned through the PALS Consortium, you should request the material online by entering the bottom number on your Smartcard. Please check with the Reference Librarian on duty if you need assistance with this process.
- Checking citations for accuracy. Please do not abbreviate journal titles.
How Long Does Interlibrary Loan Take?
Response time can vary for a number of reasons:
- Incomplete or inaccurate citation.
- Location of lending library.
- Availability of material at time of request.
Processing speed of lending library.
Many Interlibrary Loan requests are filled within days, but can take from 1-3 weeks to arrive. Patrons should arrange to meet their research needs accordingly.
Procedures for Picking Up Interlibrary Loans
Patrons will be notified by telephone when materials arrive.
Materials are then shelved at the Circulation Desk.
A ribbon is attached to the front of any book or item Guilford College must return. The ribbon is to remain on the book or item at all times. The following information should be available on the ribbon:
- The due date, or the date on which the book or item should be returned to the Circulation Desk in the Hege Library.
- Instructions regarding renewals.
- Any restrictions, like Not Renewable.
Patrons should pick up their requests as soon as possible: certain libraries loan materials for 2 or 3 weeks only. If a patron has not asked for a renewal request in accordance with any borrowing restriction listed on the ribbon, the patron must return the item immediately. For items having a status of Not Renewable, the same item can then be requested from elsewhere.
All photocopy requests should be picked up as soon as possible at the Circulation Desk.
If there is a charge for a photocopy, an invoice will be included with the request, and must be paid with a check before the patron can pick up the request.
Checks should be made out to the Hege Library.
If an invoice is forthcoming, the patron will be contacted as soon as the invoice arrives.
Failure to pay invoices in a timely manner can lead to the suspension of Interlibrary Loan privileges.
Please call 316-2439 if you have any questions.
