Successful Inter-Library Loans

© 2001 D. L. Patkus

  This article was originally printed in the Ringmail, a regional newsletter for members of the Society for Creative Anachronism, in two parts in the January-March and the April-June, 1999 issues. Essentially the article is meant to be A Complete Idiot's Guide to Interlibrary Loan and includes How to Obtain a Library Card. Really basic topics with details some experienced library users don't think about very often. Do you know all the services you can obtain at different libraries?

  I don't know why getting a copy of a book is so difficult, or why we have such a hard time with "Inter Library Loan" (ILL), but it is and we do. This article tell you how to interlibrary loan a book (and related strategies) if you've not used a library since school days or are new to an area. The suggestions here are made to allow you to continue making additional Inter Library Loans in the future. At this point Inter-Library Loaning a Book is a project but once you get the hang of it ILL becomes just another skill you use.

  Using the phone book look up Libraries and look up Schools-Academic-Colleges & Universities [and the nearby other Academic]. You've now the lists of where your local libraries are. Call one or two of them and find out what is required to obtain a library card and which area libraries you can use the card at. Note any of the library's affiliations that are mentioned in your conversation. You might want to write a list of each libraries' affiliations and the services available through these organizations. Sometimes service information pamphlets are available at the library. If you are located in the 'middle of nowhere' call the local high school library to find out if lending privileges extend to you as a parent, taxpayer, or resident. There may also be a reciprocal service agreement in your town with the neighboring area libraries if you do not have a local library -- ask your town clerk and/or town councilman. If possible talk to any librarian you know socially in your area for pointers on what you can expect.
  Get a library card from the most reasonable library (closest to your home, seems to have good services, etc.). You can always try to get another library card from the next library on your list as well. Do not lose your library card. AFTER you are fairly certain you have secured the card ask if there is a form you need to fill out to request an interlibrary loan, are there any specific instructions you should know before filling out the form, and who at the library does the paperwork for an interlibrary loan request. Keep in mind that you want to meet, talk to, and you want to be extremely nice to the InterLibraryLoan {ILL} person -- consider that person a potential new friend whom you like very much and that the clerk who helped you apply for a card could be the ILL person as well. Courtesy and a good first impression can be important during this introduction to the ILL-person. (I write this having alienated certain staff members myself at a local library where I expected and didn't receive good ILL service.)
  Some small local libraries have excellent InterLibrary Loan service. It is impossible to predict whether a library is good in this area until you try it out. Keep in mind that smaller public libraries do not always have a well-paid highly-trained staff as University libraries do (and that University libraries hire students to do clerking and shelving). There will be people working at the library who have no idea what an InterLibrary Loan is.

  Chances are good no one at the Library will tell you the following information.
  Before requesting an InterLibrary Loan look up your desired book in the card catalog. Search by author's name and be certain the book is NOT in your library. Search by periodical name if you are looking for a magazine or journal article again checking that your library does NOT have a copy. Use the card catalog to check for books, you often have to go to the periodicals section to look for magazine articles.   For each Interlibrary Loan request you submit attach a copy of your source........what?!?!? "Document" your ILL? YES! Because if you don't do it somebody else will, and that takes someone's time, more forms, and the possibility of an error -- you can do this yourself and get the book quicker. For example -- larger libraries will double check to make certain your requested title exists: someone will have to find a citation or your request will wait with the rest of the ILL requests that aren't confirmed. Attach copies of the source bibliography page with your book listed on it (highlight the citation) AND the Title page or cataloging information page which includes the source's title, author, and often an ISBN & more information (usually the page after the title page) from your source. If you doubt the experience level of your ILL-person explain that your documentation MUST be sent with the ILL request -- obtain a promise that this information will be passed on to the potential loaning library.   You can also attach copies of book catalog listings -- the book of intrest AND the cover of the catalog are helpful. A second option is to look the book up in Books in Print. Books in Print is an annual encyclopedic listing of all books currently available for purchase; it comes in three sections -- Title, Author, and Subject -- and has periodical updates available as well. Books in Print is a very expensive resource and can be found at larger libraries' reference sections and at larger bookstores; smaller libraries & bookstores may only have a Title section or an Author section and may have it hidden in someone's office (you may have to ask to use this). Some libraries and bookstores access Books In Print online, again an expensive subscription service often available through a library consortium or corporate affiliation. It is the best reference if you are actually thinking about buying a book at retail pricing. It can be used only for books currently "in print" or recently wholesaled titles.   If you are using a citation you found on the internet, again, attach a hard copy of your source, including the URL, to the ILL request form. Try to search for a listing that includes: Author's name, Title of Book or Article (if an article, name of the Periodical it was printed in), year published, Publisher name and Location. You may also need to specify page numbers. The same goes for searches at the library. For example, a search at a OCLC member library (usually a larger or a University Library -- remember my earlier mention of finding out your library's affiliations? This is one of those...) with FirstSearch provides an accession number, cataloging information, and a list of libraries that have and will lend the book out. Get the librarian to print out hard-copy of this information whether that library will ILL the book for you or not. Copy this to your local ILL request.

  Find out how ILL service is paid for. All libraries do this differently. There is time spent at the local library to send in the request. There may be fees at the lending library to mail the resource back and forth. Somebody is going to pay the bill. If you offer to pay (or "make a suitable donation"), you may get better service. Some libraries have a set fee structure for ILL, most call it a free service. Just keep in the back of your mind that some charges will be hidden from you and they can impact the ILL, you won't know about them unless you ask. Quite often fees become more of an issue if the ILL has to be made with a library in a different affiliation system or a library in a different state.   As an example, I get great ILL service from my teeny tiny local library......I also inquire about what has to be done to obtain my ILL. If I know a copy of Bernhard Salin's 1935 book Die Altgermanische Tierornamentik (Wahlstrom & Wikstrand, Stockholm) does not exist anywhere in Iowa Libraries, I know my ILL-staff-person will contact east coast libraries to look for it. If she tells me Harvard has it, I know life is easier if I offer to pay for the FedEx shipping that Harvard WILL use to ship the book out to my library. I have been known to mention "I'll pay $10.00 to get a chance to read this request..." and my ILL-staff-person will actually note this figure on the request treating it as a payment authorization. Sometimes she collects the 10 bucks, sometimes she mentions the actual billing amount, sometimes she tell me it's free -- there was no bill this time. Your mileage and procedures will vary at each library you use {and can change from one fiscal year to the next}.   There are some perks to ILL. If you are looking for a journal/ magazine article or are very specific as to which pages you need there is a chance the lending library will send you a clear photocopy of those pages. It is more cost effective than shipping a bound periodical. Sometimes there is a charge associated with this for the cost of photocopying. (You know, you were going to photo- copy it anyway!)

  Now, knowing all this background information, grab an ILL request form from your library, fill it out, staple the source copy to it, and find your ILL librarian. Greet him warmly and ask him to please process your request. Ask him if he would review the form at this time to ensure you have filled out everything correctly. Listen carefully to his comments for any hint on an additional detail to include the next time. Look for an appropriate time to weasel a promise from him that the attached source copy will be included with your request. Ask how and when you might be contacted when your request arrives and offer him details about your telephone availability or how your answering machine picks up in a peculiar way. Don't forget to Thank the InterLibrary Loan librarian for helping you.

  Go home and wait for the processing. It can take 2 to 6 weeks. Worse yet, it might take 8 to 10 weeks. I once forgot I made a ILL request and was pleasantly surprised to find a neat book waiting for me. Be Patient. You'll be contacted when the book arrives and you can go back to the library to check it out.

  OK -- you get a phone call and your request has arrived! Go to the library and ask to see it. Several conditions may be associated with this. Whatever the situation, cope with it and be courteous. You may find they sent the wrong source, sent the wrong photocopied pages, the library WON'T let you check out the book, or you can check out the book for only two days.   If the wrong thing arrived look at it anyway. Chances are good it's similar to what you were looking for so think of it as an opportunity to check another source. After a good 30 minute look-see if you are ABSOLUTELY certain this isn't what you requested, find the ILL librarian give your best explanation and ask if you could double check your paperwork on the original request....there is a remote possibility something was wrong or misleading. If all is in order ask to have the request made again.   ILL often marks books "not to be checked out" and your local library may have a policy that won't allow you to take it home -- this ILL is treated like a Reference Book. You'll have to use it at the Library. Time constraints by the lending library may mean you will only have time to look at your ILL for 2 or 3 days. Be prepared for this situation. Then again, the lender is often a lot more generous and will let you check out the book for a month or two! Whether YOUR library will check the ILL out for that amount of time or for the standard check-out time is largely a matter of your library's policies. If you always go to Pennsic don't send in a ILL request in late July ......Delay this until you've returned from this event or any other week-long vacation.

  Don't forget to return the ILL by the due date or sooner, and like your library card, don't lose your ILL-ed book! That's really all there is to Inter Library Loan -- and it does get easier as you make more of them over a period of time. You know you've got this down pat when Roger, the ILL-Reference Librarian, sees you coming and greets you by name and a phrase like "....so what 'cha looking for this time...."

-- Glossary --

Books in Print - Annually printed set of books that lists all books currently available from the publisher. Out-of-Print books will not be listed here. Some libraries have this on microfiche (a type of microfilm) or might subscribe to this by computer. Sometimes these volumes are shelved with the Reference Books. More info is in the text above.

FirstSearch - an OCLC search program available only at member or subscribing libraries.

ILL - abbreviation for Inter-Library Loan. If you want to read or refer to a book or magazine that you can't find anywhere, ILL is a method to barrow that book from a library anywhere in the USA which will lend that title out.

ISBN - International Standardized Book Number

ISSN - International Standardized Serial Number

Library affiliations - Each library often joins a 'support group'. Most common is a regional library network, but there may be State, research, or other networking groups that are designed to provide additional cool services to library staff and users.

OCLC - Online Computer Library Center, Inc. these people run the FirstSearch software available online for a monetary charge.

Reference Books - Dictionaries, Encyclopedias and the like. All cataloguing systems mark these on the spine with "REF". Generally Reference Books can not be checked out. You have to use them at the library.

About the Author.... D. L. Patkus is a Research Technician at a 'very large Chemical Company'. She lives with her husband and two cats about 4 blocks from the Mississippi River and reads alot. She gets mail at 1619 S. Washington Blvd., Camanche, IA 52730

Her persona is Birgit av Birka, a 9th century Norsewoman, and in the S.C.A. tends to sew, participate in archery, and spend lots of time thinking (and reading) about the culture of Viking Age Scandinavia. This article was completed 27. August, 1998. It was updated 24. June, 2001 [DLP].