Interlibrary loan (ILL) is a service that provides access to materials not owned by the R. A. Williams Library. Through cooperative agreements, participating libraries share their collections with users at other libraries. Possible requests include copies of articles or temporary loans of books, dissertations, and media items from lending libraries.
All AHU students, faculty, and staff may use the library’s ILL service. Other library users are asked to obtain ILL services through their local public library.
ILL requests may be made in person at the R. A. Williams Library or electronically by filling out the request form on the library website or emailing request@adu.libanswers.com.
Request Limits and Costs
Users may only request certain types of material via ILL. Not all of materials that may be requested are available, and the library cannot guarantee that a request will be filled. The following materials may be requested:
- Materials Usually Available
- Copies of articles (some copyright limitations may apply)
- Loans of circulating books, circulating theses, circulating dissertations, and circulating reports
- Conference proceedings or copies of papers from the proceedings
- Materials Not Usually Available
- Entire issues of journals
- Rare, old, or fragile books (unless available on microfilm or microfiche)
- Audiovisual materials
- Recently-published books
- Non-circulating items such as reserve or reference books
The following items may not be requested via ILL:
- Course textbooks
- Genealogical materials
- "Bestsellers" (Popular items currently in high demand and available at the public library)
- "Bestsellers" (Popular items currently in high demand and available at the public library)
- Audio-visual recordings owned by the library
- Popular films available through rental or streaming services
- Original manuscripts
If a user submits an ILL request for an item available in the library’s collection, the ILL staff will cancel the request and notify the user.
The library does not limit the number of requests a user may submit. The first 20 requests per person, per year (beginning of fall trimester to end of the following summer trimester) are free, except as provided below. If a user submits more than 20 ILL requests (combined books and articles) in on year, the user pays any charges of the lending institution. Regardless of the number of previous requests, there is never a charge when an ILL book or article request is necessary because the library’s copy is missing and has not been replaced.
Usually, the library’s ILL services are free to users. The library belongs to several regional library consortia and can get most requested materials without fees. However, the user is responsible for any fees above $30 per item. If an ILL request involves costs of more than $30.00 per item, the ILL staff will contact the user who submitted the request. The user may choose to pay all costs above $30 per item or cancel the request. Users are also responsible for any fines and/or replacement costs levied by the lending library for overdue or lost items.
Request Time
All ILL requests are processed as quickly as current staffing levels allow. Regular requests are processed within three business days, and rush requests within 24 hours. Physical loans take an average of 10 business days (two weeks) to arrive; photocopies take an average of 3 business days. Many requests will be filled more quickly; others may take much longer.
Rush Requests
Rush requests are available only on a case-by-case basis. The library staff limit rush requests because they slow down processing of normal requests and place a burden on lending libraries.
To submit a rush ILL request, users must contact the library’s ILL office by telephone or in person in addition to submitting a request using the online forms. The library cannot guarantee rush service on a request unless the user has spoken directly to the ILL staff.
Rush requests are processed within 24 hours and shipped per the user’s specifications. The ILL staff strive to meet the user’s deadline, but delivery by a certain time cannot be guaranteed. The lending libraries ultimately decide how quickly they process a request.
The user is responsible for all charges above those of a standard ILL request. The ILL staff will review all charges with the user prior to processing rush requests.
Receiving Items
The ILL staff notifies users by email when requested items arrive. Users may request an alternative means of notification. If possible, materials are provided to users via email. Physical items such as books or articles not in electronic format will be held at the library service desk for users to pick up. In some cases, such as with online students who cannot come to the library, the ILL staff will mail physical items to the user’s home address.
Returning Items
Photocopies acquired by ILL become the property of the user and are not returned to the lending library. All other materials must be returned to the lending library. The loan period is set by the lending library, and is usually one month or less. Users are expected to know the due date of ILL materials. The library does not send its own overdue notices for ILL materials; however, ILL staff will forward users any overdue notices sent by a lending library.
Users should request a renewal before the due date. Materials will not be renewed past their due date. The ILL staff cannot guarantee that a renewal request will be granted. The lending library makes the final decision on whether to renew materials.
ILL materials must be returned directly to the library circulation staff. Users are responsible for the materials until they have been given to a library staff member. If an ILL item is lost or damaged while in a user’s possession, that user must pay the replacement cost mandated by the lending library. Users are not responsible for any materials lost or damaged while in the possession of library staff.
If a user does not return ILL materials within one week of the overdue notices, the user’s library privileges will be suspended. The user will also be charged the replacement cost of the materials. To reinstate library privilege, the user must return all overdue items and speak to the ILL staff. If the materials are not returned, privilege will be reinstated once the replacement cost has been paid.
Copyright and Photocopying
The library follows the current CONTU Guidelines for Interlibrary Loan Photocopying when requesting reproduction of materials. Not more than five articles may be requested in a calendar year from the same journal title from volumes published in the last five years. For requests that exceed this limit, users must pay royalties to the publisher.
