Interlibrary Loan (ILL) & Document Delivery

Contact ILL

The Interlibrary Loan staff is happy to consult with you about your information needs or assist you with any part of the interlibrary loan process.

ILL Staff
Laura Robinson Hanlan, User Services Librarian (lrob@wpi.edu)
Elizabeth Goodrich, Interlibrary Loan Associate (goodrich@wpi.edu)

ILL Contact
Phone: x5414 or (508) 831-5414
Email: lib-ill@wpi.edu
In person: Gordon Library, Second Floor

How-to Videos

WPI students, faculty, and staff may obtain books, journal articles, and other information sources, not owned by Gordon Library, from other libraries.

Interlibrary Loan FAQ

Placing a Request
Checking Request Status
Required Information
When Will My Items Arrive?
Is it Free?
Receiving, Renewing, Returning
Policies
Direct Borrowing from Worcester Area Libraries

Placing a Request

There are several ways to place ILL requests:

Through the Quick Start box on the library web page: Follow the link to Place Interlibrary Loan and Other Requests.
From within the library catalog: click on Request in the top toolbar, log in and choose either ILL Book/Video Request or ILL Journal Article/Conference Paper from the pull-down menu.

From within WorldCat and other FirstSearch databases (WorldCat, BasicBIOSIS, MLA, etc): Click the ILL button within the detailed record for an item. (Hint: if fewer than 15 libraries indicate ownership in WorldCat, it is likely to be difficult to obtain.)

Place a request from the FullTextFinder results page.

Checking Request Status

To view the status of your ILL requests click Log in in the Quick Start box on the Library homepage.

Requests that are pending will be listed at the bottom of the page along with a status report. For detailed information, Contact ILL staff at lib-ill@wpi.edu or 508-831-5414. (Hint: Items that have just been requested will not appear until a staff member has reviewed them.)
When your ILL books arrive and are available for pick up, this information appears under Items Available.
When you pick up a book it will be charged out to you, and it will be moved to the Charged Items Section.
Articles that have been received will stay in the "Requests Pending" section for several weeks.

Note that recent requests will not show up in your patron account until ILL staff have reviewed them.

Required Information

Complete citation information is vital to the success and speed of a request. Provide as much information as possible on the request form.
An email address is required on all requests.

ILL staff welcome questions about and requests for hard to find or non-standards items such as conference papers, technical reports, dissertations, microforms and media and we will make every attempt to obtain these items for you.

When Will My Items Arrive?

Standard journal/magazine article requests are filled in an average of three business days. Non-standard items, such as conference proceeding papers, articles from non-English language journals, national lab reports, etc., may take longer. To get a more specific estimate on when an item might arrive, please contact the ILL staff.
Standard book requests are filled in an average of six business days - exceptions are technical reports, theses and dissertations, rare items, foreign language titles, etc. To get a more specific estimate on when an item might arrive, please contact the ILL Staff.
RUSH service is available for article requests. RUSH fees usually apply and are charged by the lending library. Typical RUSH fees are between $10 and $20 and articles are supplied within one business day. Contact the ILL Staff with your specific needs.

Is it Free?

Interlibrary Loan is a service offered free to WPI staff, students, and faculty. However, Gordon Library will not pay for fees that some libraries may charge us to obtain some rare items. If we cannot get an item for free, we will contact you prior to placing the request to see whether you are willing to pay.

Fees typically range from $10 to $20 per item. The fee may be paid at the Information Desk at the time of pick up (or delivery, in the case of most articles). Faculty and staff may pay using a departmental account. Departmental account information may be sent to lib-ill@wpi.edu

Photocopies of non-WPI dissertations may be ordered through the ILL Office; the cost is $29.

Receiving, Renewing and Returning

When your item arrives, you will be notified by email. If you have requested an article, a .pdf of the article will be attached to the email notification (there are some exceptions due to copyright restrictions).

All physical items may be picked up and returned at the Information Desk.

Renewals are determined by the library that lent the item. To request a renewal please contact ILL staff or use the form linked at the top of this page. ILL renewals take several business days to process and cannot be renewed automatically online.

Overdue fines for ILL items are 50 cents per item, per day.

item 'Location: Interlibrary Loan' is non-renewable
online

Policies

Due to copyright laws, all items requested must be used for academic purposes only.
At peak requesting times, ILL staff reserve the right to limit the number of request processed to five per person, per day.
Current textbooks may not be obtained through Interlibrary Loan. Please request that your instructor place a copy of the current text on Reserve at the Library. Please visit the library's Textbooks Web Site for a list of places to rent or purchase textbooks.
If an item owned by WPI is currently checked out to another patron and is due later than two weeks from the current date, patrons may place an interlibrary loan request to try to get the item from another library. If the item is due within two weeks, please place a hold on the item (through your patron account) and you will be notified by email when WPI’s copy is returned.

Direct Borrowing from Worcester Area Libraries

An Academic and Research Collaborative (ARC) Borrowing Card enables WPI community members to visit Worcester area academic libraries and directly borrow books from them without having to use ILL. ARC Cards are issued by the Gordon Library Information Desk.

Maintained by lib-webmaster@wpi.edu
Last modified: Jul 08, 2008, 14:50 EDT