Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary Loan is a service that provides access to materials needed for academic research that are NOT owned by the Seeley G. Mudd Library. This service is available to all current students, staff, and faculty of the Lawrence University community at no charge.

Click here to access the ILL request form by logging in to your library account.

How to Place an Interlibrary Loan Request

After checking the library catalog and Find It to verifty whether or not the library owns or has access to the resource you need , there are a variety of ways to submit an interlibrary loan request.

Fill out the electronic form available in your library account.
Select the blue button labeled, Find It @ Lawrence, when searching our databases
Complete a paper form, available at the reference and circulation desk.

Whichever method you use, make sure that you fill everything out correctly. If you're using the paper forms, make sure that we can read your handwriting! Also remember, only one request per form.

Things to Know When Submitting a Request

Remember to list ALL required personal information including your full name, your campus address (faculty and staff), your campus mailbox number (students), and your official Lawrence email address.
Please, do not abbreviate. If we don't know exactly what the title is, we won't be able to order it. If you need help determining the full title, ask a reference librarian.
Include all of the information from the citation that you can find. This includes volume, issue, date, and page information. Include ISSN numbers for journals and ISBN numbers for books if at all possible. Your request will be processed faster if you provide as much complete and accurate information as you can provide.
Give the source of your citation in case we need to verify any information.
There is definitely a cost to borrow from other libraries, but the library doesn't pass that cost on to members of the Lawrence community. Please keep those costs in mind when borrowing from another library.
Interlibrary Loan is only available to students, faculty and staff of Lawrence University.

Items that Can Be Borrowed

The following items can usually be obtained through interlibrary loan:

Books, which are generally lent for 2 to 4 weeks
Journal articles
While we can borrow theses, dissertations, government documents, and conference proceedings, keep in mind that these items can be very difficult to obtain. Make sure that you have other sources in case these can't be borrowed.
Microfilm as well as old and rare books. These can be borrowed, but will be for in library use only.

When your book arrives, we will send a notification to your Lawrence email account. Books can be picked up at the circulation desk. Journal articles are sent electronically, also to your Lawrence email account.

Items that cannot be borrowed include audiovisual materials, such as CDs and DVDs, as well a chapters of books. Due to copyright restrictions, we will borrow the whole book if a chapter is requested.

Interlibrary Loan takes about 5 to 10 days, on average. If you need your item in less time, contact the Interlibrary Loan department to discuss it personally. Articles may arrive within a few days, but we cannot guarantee a time, since we rely on the lending library to send the item to us.

Renewing Interlibrary Loan Items

We have to contact the lending library for a renewal, so you must make sure you request a renewal at least 3 days BEFORE the item is due. Renewal requests after the due date will NOT be granted. If the renewal is denied, you will be notified and the book must be returned to the library by the original due date.

Generally, second renewals are not granted by the lending library and it is usually not possible to keep items for an entire term. If you know you will need a book for an entire term, contact us, and we may be able to purchase a copy for our library's collection.

If interlibrary loan materials are not returned by the due date, you may lose your library privileges and be billed the lending library's fee to replace the book. In addition, you may be jeopardizing the library's ability to continue to borrow from the lending institution. Books that are recalled by the lending library must be returned immediately. Failure to return an interlibrary loan book may lead to disciplinary action, and may be considered an Honor Code violation.

Contact the Interlibrary Loan Department

Phone: 920-832-6758
By submitting this web form.
By Email
In person: In the ILL office, located to the right of the circulation desk.

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