Interlibrary Loan
Guidelines
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service aids faculty, staff, and students in obtaining materials not available through the Northern Kentucky University library system.
On average, it takes Interlibrary Loan materials 7 to 10 days to arrive. If materials are needed more quickly, the Research and Information Services Department can assist in determining the location of needed materials. The NKU ID can be used to borrow materials directly from SWON libraries.
The Due Date and any lending restrictions are determined by the lending library and must be strictly observed.
If a RENEWAL is required, the request must be made no less than five days before the due date. If the renewal is denied, the borrowed material must be returned. The patron is responsible for any costs, determined by the lending library, for lost or damaged materials.
The following guidelines will aid in a speedier processing of the ILL request:
- Check the NKUIRE catalog before making a request.
- Check EBSCOhost database before making a request for a journal article.
- Check at the Reference desk if material needed is published by a federal or state agency.
- Requests sent via email will not be processed.
- Requests with abbreviated titles will not be processed. The book, Key to Abbreviations, is located at the Reference Desk to assist patrons in determining full journal titles. Email reference service is also available.
- There are no limits to the number of interlibrary loan requests you may submit via ILLiad. However, when you enter over 20 requests per day, we ask that you prioritize by using the Not Wanted After Date listed on the ILLiad request form. During heavy traffic periods, we may require an additional business day to complete these requests. The interlibrary loan personnel would be pleased to assist with you with any special needs, please contact us.
The following materials CANNOT be borrowed through ILL:
- Books to be used as textbooks.
- Books to be placed on reserve for group or class use.
The following materials generally cannot be borrowed through ILL:
- Materials in constant use at other libraries, e.g., best sellers or books published within the past year.
- Reference material.
- Materials too fragile to be transported, e.g. phonograph records, photographs, film, etc.
- Rare books or manuscripts.
- Entire issues of periodicals, newspapers, or government documents, however, photocopies of certain pages can usually be obtained.
- Genealogical, heraldic and similar materials.
- Theses and dissertations. (NKU faculty, staff, and students can view theses and dissertations through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database.)
updated: Thursday, 08-May-2008 11:54:14 EDT