Demystifying interlibrary loan
There is gossip going around that the interlibrary loan (hence known as ILL) service is slow and cumbersome. In a way it is, but not from any fault of its own. Well, you are requesting material owned by another institution, and that comes with many challenges. ILL is one of those library services that is impacted by various factors. Let me explain what an interlibrary loan is, what governs it, and, how you can make it work in your favour.
Think of it this way: ILL is a lot like borrowing a drill from your neighbour, and you are asking your mum to ask your neighbour to lend you a drill. However, before you can have the drill there needs to be some ground rules, to ensure the drill gets returned in good nick. The ground rules for ILL include laws, policies, protocols, rules, and postal conditions. Does its sound complicated? Because it is. Moreover, these ground rules vary from country-to-country, institution-to-institution. You might ask, isn’t all this automated by now? Well, yes and no.
In some respect it has been automated, like when you request a book in a public library’s catalogue, there is a fair chance the book will come from another library, meaning it comes from another institution and not another branch (e.g. LibraryLink). These libraries have interconnected their collections in this fashion to provide patrons with more selection. This is a new form of interlibrary loan made possible under a reciprocal arrangement or mutual obligation understanding. Unfortunately, not every library has taken part in the arrangements mentioned above. Instead these other libraries have adopted online forms (e.g. ILLiad, Aleph, etc.), and article exchange portals (e.g. OCLC’s WorldShare). However, all of this doesn’t necessarily remove the issues of restriction of access, licence, law, and communication affecting ILL.
- Access restrictions
Not everything is available for ILL and this determined by ILL policy. ILL policy is quite similar to online stores’ shipping policy — used as a guide and for setting parameters. The ILL policy covers what can and cannot be loaned to libraries within the nation and overseas, available date range, length of loan, fees, collections, format, and so forth. Every institution has their own version of the ILL policy, which dictates the rules of engagement. Most of the time, items are not loaned due to being fragile, a sole copy, or a special collection item, but photocopies of item may be obtained depending on the condition of material.
2. Licence of ownership
Digital items are treated differently to printed items. The crux of the matter is, although libraries may hold the item, they do not own the copyright. Take for instance, eBooks, they are portable, but they are purchased on a limited licence, which usually does not extend to interlibrary loan. When it comes to theses, some can only be obtained through the image reproduction service or directly from the university’s publishing house. Furthermore, some current year articles have an embargo placed by the publisher, especially the digital version, and it means no access for the current year or up to 18 months.
3. Law
The most important law to be aware of is the Australian Copyright Act 1968. Under (s50) it states that you can only photocopy 10% or a chapter of the material, and that applies to ILL (photocopy) requests. Exceptions occur when requesting copies on behalf of the Crown (s183), and library collection replacement (s50). This would be different in other countries. So, remember to check out legislation in your country, and if you wish to request internationally, the country in which you plan to request material from.
4. Communication
At present, most institutions are under-staffed; you are lucky if there are a team of 5 people, but in reality the ILL department is run by one or two staff, perhaps part time. This will impact how quickly your request gets processed and followed up on, should there be any issues. When staff request books from overseas, it may take a while longer to get replies from overseas institutions and this could takes weeks or months.
BEFORE PLACING A REQUEST.
When would you use this service?
Most people would use it for research. But interlibrary loan could be used to assist you in a hobby, a court case, writing a play, and so on. Also, it is useful when you have found the item but it is out of reach, such as for the following reasons:
- It is behind a paywall and the cost to access it is beyond your means;
- It was not held at your local library;
- It was not digitally available in open access repository;
- It was held at an institution overseas;
Do I need to be a member of the requesting library to use interlibrary loan?
Yes. You will need to be a member before you can place an ILL request at a public library. However, in Australia, it varies for each of the state libraries and the national library. In most cases, you are already a member of a school library, when you attend primary school, high school, college, TAFE, or a university.
Does this service cost money?
Yes. But it varies from library to library. The cost is dependent on whether it is a national ILL request or an overseas ILL request and service level. In Australia, there are three service levels of interlibrary loan ILL: Core (4 business days), Rush (24 hours), and Express (2 hours). Mind you, some libraries do not offer or accept Rush or Express requests. However, the time frames mentioned here may not be adhered to due to conditions and restrictions placed on collection materials. Best to use the “Ask-a-Librarian” service for further clarification. Express service is best reserved for photocopy requests. Do not use Rush or Express service when urgently needing a book from interstate regional institutions, as mileage may vary.
Do I need to come into the library to place an ILL request?
No. To place an interlibrary loan just email the ILL team or use the enquiry service “Ask-a-Librarian” to get started. Also, some libraries already have an online form for interlibrary loans.
Do I need to come into the library to read the book I requested from ILL?
It depends on three things:
- The institution’s policy;
- The conditions of the loan;
- And where you applied for the interlibrary loan request.
- Policy -
Take for example, public libraries’ institution policy states everything in their collection is available for loan and can be taken home. Whereas state and national libraries’ institution policy refers you to an interlibrary policy which states what is available for loan (some loans require approval from collection managers).
- Condition -
Loan conditions can be fluid. Onlending is one of them. With onlending, a book requested as an interlibrary loan can be taken home or to an office. Onlending conditions vary between state. If you live in a remote regional area there is a high chance of approval, but in metropolitan areas it is conditional upon having poor mobility, and even then, approval is at the discretion of the collection manager. Some conditions are not so fluid, rather they are a standard loan condition. For example, a book must be read in the requesting library’s secure reading room which means the book cannot be taken home.
- Place of request -
In the case of interlibrary loans placed at a public library, generally, the book can be taken home, as long as it has no condition restrictions.
As for other libraries, especially for state and national libraries, regardless of any conditions, you can only read the book onsite. This is for accountability and to ensure the item does not get lost or damaged during the loan period.
Do I need to come into the library to collect my photocopy ILL request?
No. Libraries can send it to you in the post or email. This will depend on the copyright law in your country, state, and province jurisdiction, as they may restrict digital distribution of this sort.
ONCE YOU HAVE PLACED A REQUEST.
I cannot find the term ‘interlibrary loan’ on the website?
Try searching the term ‘document supply’ and sometimes it is housed with ‘image reproduction’. Alternatively, place an enquiry to the “Ask-a-Librarian” service.
What is causing the interlibrary loan to be slow?
You would be amazed to know, there is a fair amount of manual checking and waiting involved in preparing the material for consumption. The supplying library staff mediate photocopy requests with partial citation, and some loans need the collection manager’s approval — that takes time, and even after getting approval some materials may need to be repaired before they can be loaned out.
How can I speed up an interlibrary loan request?
There are no magic beans for speeding up an interlibrary loan request. However, it is very beneficial to do a preliminary research on the item and collect sufficient information to provide to the ILL officer. By producing an exact citation, staff can reduce their time spent verifying your citation and phone tagging. In return this reduces the hold up.
I recommend searching in union catalogues because they display which libraries holds the item. Many of them are free to access online and are mobile device friendly. From the union catalogue, you can take the extra step, and visit the supply library’s catalogue, here you will learn about which collection the item is housed under and its location. This kind of information affects retrieval time for photocopying and eligibility of loan.
In addition, some of the collection materials are stored offsite and retrieval can take up to 24 hours. This is a growing trend, because libraries are making space for new learning centres, exhibitions, and venues for hire, and to do all that libraries need to shift collection materials to offsite storage.
See an example of how bad citation impacts your interlibrary loan request click here.
Here are some union catalogues you can bookmark:
The sorts of information to look for:
- Journal/article/chapter title
- Author
- Publisher
- Country of publication
- Year of publication
- Item’s location
- Format
- Collection
- The number of volumes
- The number of pages
- Copyright status
- ISBN/ISSN
- Call number
- Accession number
Why was my interlibrary loan rejected?
There are many possible reasons for the rejection. It could be the case of insufficient citation details, it is still in copyright, a legal deposit copy, or a fragile book. Although, not everything is available for interlibrary loan, library staff do try their best to arrange some form of access for you, and to get you the requested information.
Take away tips:
1. Endeavour to research before requesting.
2. Be brave and use the ‘Ask-a-librarian’ service.
3. Negotiate fearlessly for access.
If you find any of this unjust, please protest your concerns to the library’s board of management or a local parliamentarian.
