Policies & Procedures
This guide is intended to provide information about policies and procedures of the Interlibrary Loan Unit. If the library does not have the materials needed, it is possible that these items may be obtained from other libraries. Interlibrary loan request forms for materials can be obtained from the staff in the Interlibrary Loan Unit or at the Reference Desk.
If you have questions, the Interlibrary Loan Unit can be contacted by phone at (309) 298-2761 or by e-mail at InterLibrary-Loan@wiu.edu.
Who may use Interlibrary loan services?
- Affiliated users who may use this service are: current employees of WIU, retired faculty and staff of WIU, and active students enrolled at WIU.
- Inactive graduate students who need to finish their research project should contact Interlibrary loan for further information.
- Non-affiliated patrons should utilize their local public or school library for interlibrary loan requests. Non-affiliated patrons are members of the community, non-WIU employees, spouses of WIU employees and alumni.
How to Order
The Interlibrary Loan Unit accepts requests for materials in the following ways:
The Interlibrary Loan Unit DOES NOT accept requests over the telephone.
Items that maybe difficult to obtain or renew are:
- Videos, DVDs, CDs, microforms
- Reference, historical or genealogy materials
- Items currently on reserve in the WIU Library
- Entire issues of a journal
- Textbooks
Notification and Pick Up
Books
Patrons will be sent an e-mail or a letter in the mail when the book arrives. Bring the letter or e-mail printout to the Circulation desk to receive the item. If the notice is not presented, identification will be required.
Photocopies
Photocopies will be mailed or posted to the web for patrons. If your document is posted to the Internet you will receive an e-mail letting you know it is available.
E-mail Policy
Interlibrary Loan will send all courtesy, photocopy availability, item available and overdue notices to WIU e-mail (ECOM) accounts ONLY. Please use only your WIU e-mail (ECOM) account on your requests for ILL materials. WIU students, faculty and staff are reminded that important information from campus offices (e.g., Interlibrary Loan, Financial Aid, Billing, Registrar) are only sent to these official WIU e-mail addresses.
Time
Our services are dependent upon other institutions' workloads and other conditions beyond our control. Materials usually arrive in 7-10 working days. The amount of time needed to receive ordered materials varies. When an item is requested, there is no guarantee the item will be available for loan or that it will be received in an expedient manner.
Cost
Photocopies, Books and other Borrowed Materials
While most Interlibrary Loan requests are obtained at no charge, there are occasions when other libraries charge for materials borrowed from them. WIU Libraries will subsidize research or work related requests for WIU affiliated faculty, staff, and students. On those occasions when WIU Libraries receives a charge from a lending library, WIU Libraries will subsidize up to $40.00 for each item borrowed or the ILL unit will provide a referral list of possible locations from which to purchase the material(s).
Copyright Charges
While most Interlibrary Loan requests are obtained at no charge, the library will subsidize Copyrighted materials for affiliated faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students when any of the following conditions are met. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17 U.S. Code) items for which copyright has to be paid as stated by the copyright law are:
- Anytime a library requests more than FIVE articles from ONE PERIODICAL TITLE (JOURNAL/MAGAZINE) during the current year.
- A library may not request more than ONE article that appears in the SAME ISSUE of a PERIODICAL.
Each person will be limited to $100.00 per annual year (including summer). This means that if any charges are incurred to obtain materials, the library will be picking up these costs until you have reached this limit.
After the limit is reached you will be offered the choice of paying fees, before the material is ordered. A $10.00 fee for copyright material will be accessed per article request.
Copyright Payment
- Personal checks and exact change are accepted.
- Personal checks should be made payable to WIU Information Services.
- Payment from university accounts is NOT accepted.
- Payment must be made before the patron can receive the item.
- Failure to pay will result in loss of library checkout privileges.
Rush Requests
"Not Needed After Date"
Interlibrary Loan always attempts to obtain articles in a timely manner; however, the best way for you to help ensure this is to plan ahead and fill in the "Not needed after" date on the ordering forms. Interlibrary Loan does not offer a Rush service for articles, books or other materials.
Renewals
- Bring material to be renewed to the Interlibrary Loan Unit or submit an electronic renewal form.
- No renewals are accepted over the telephone.
- In some cases we have to ask the lending library to renew an item. In those cases the patron can keep materials until Interlibrary Loan is notified. The patron will be notified of the new due date.
- The patron may renew a book two times.
Book Return
Books can be returned to:
- Interlibrary Loan Unit (2nd floor) during Interlibrary Loan hours.
- Circulation Desk (2nd floor) during Library hours.
I-Share Requests
Books can be requested via I-Share (a statewide catalog of 76 academic libraries). Patrons requesting books in this manner will be responsible for:
- Contacting the Interlibrary Loan Unit if the book is not received in a reasonable amount of time.
- Reordering the book if the request is not supplied by the lending institution. Patron will be notified when reordering is required.
- Contacting the Interlibrary Loan Unit if they receive an overdue notice for a book they have not received.
