Common ILL questions:
How long does it take?
Shipping and processing times vary widely. For emailed articles loaned from within North Dakota, it can be as little as a day, while books and other physical items often take 5+ days.
What does it cost?
Nearly all requests are free of charge. In very rare instances, other libraries may charge before lending their materials. Each online ILL request form asks whether or not you are willing to pay to borrow the material. Mark yes only if you are willing to pay added fees. We will contact you before finalizing any request that requires payment.
Can you get any book or article?
Not everything is available through ILL. Textbooks, Rare or original materials, and reference books are almost never available for loan, and a few journal articles are almost impossible to track down. We are also unable to get eBooks through ILL. However, most things you find in a library catalog or a database can be borrowed!
I'm a distance student; can I get ILL materials through the library?
Allen Memorial Library offers Interlibrary Loan services for digital articles to all VCSU students. We are not able to ship physical items to you at this time, so you may find it useful to consult local libraries for their ILL offerings for physical books.
Many public libraries offer interlibrary loan to their patrons, and quite a few public colleges and universities will offer community borrowing cards. Make sure to ask these institutions whether they offer interlibrary loan, and if so, if they charge any fees per item. While VCSU does not charge for ILL materials, many other libraries offset costs by charging a nominal fee per item. Occasionally, these fees can be significant - $25+ per item - so be sure to ask about any fees before you request materials.
Allen Memorial Library can also ship our own materials to you. Simply fill out a Distance Loan Request online.
