Interlibrary Loan Policy

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is part of the Access Services Department. Through this system, the library is able to borrow items that we do not own from other institutions throughout the country. 

Only current students, staff, and faculty can access this service; community borrowers, alumni and youth patrons must use their local public libraries for ILL requests. Retired faculty members may acquire items through the library’s ILL department with permission from their university ex-department. 

Plan ahead . . . it takes time to obtain these items. Do your research early in the term and submit your ILL requests as soon as possible.

If the item cannot be found through the Interlibrary Loan service, please consult the Reference and Instruction Librarian for expert or alternative assistance at (432) 552-2370.

For other questions:
(432) 552-2370
libraryill@utpb.edu

Before you request an Article or Book

• Check through Falcon Finder on the Library home page to make sure the book you want is not available in our collection.
• Search for the name of the serial/journal publication (not the name of the article) in Journal Search to see if the Library carries the publication issue containing the article that you need.
• Try services such as Open Access Button, the Unpaywall and Kopernio browser extensions, and Google Scholar to check if your article has been published open access. Open access articles and journals are available online for free legally.
• Use your TexShare Card to check out books directly from other participating Texas libraries.
• Research assistants requesting items for a faculty member must be set up as a faculty proxy at the Library prior to submitting any requests. Please email the research assistants’ names to libraryservices@utpb.edu with a note to enable them as your faculty proxies.

Making your ILL request

• All ILL requests should be made through the online Interlibrary Loan / Resource Sharing request form.
• To navigate to this form from the Falcon Finder catalog search, click on "ILL" in the top right menu, or sign into the “request options” link on individual catalog listings.
• On the Resource Sharing request form, select the Citation Type matching the item you’re requested: Book to request a print book or a digital copy of a book chapter, Article to request an article from a serial publication like a journal or newspaper.
• Complete the Resource Sharing request form with as much information as you have about the item you’re requesting. If you are a faculty proxy or have other extenuating circumstances with your request, please explain in the Comments box and submit the request.
• Requests must be submitted online through the Library catalog.  Rare books and textbooks should not be requested but may be requested by faculty and adjuncts for research purposes. UTPB does not charge our patrons for ILL requests. 
• If a lending library charges us a fee the library will absorb that fee up to a maximum amount of $50.  Please limit requests to no more than five items per day and no more than ten items per week. All communication between the library and the patron is via email.
• ILL material can be picked up at the Library Services desk or sent to offices by Campus Mail or by mail for Distance Education Learners.
• If a student requests an item that is out on loan to another institution they can request that we obtain a copy through ILL if it is needed before the item is due back. Otherwise, the student can go through the library catalog to put a hold on the item so that the borrowing institution cannot request a renewal and the item will be put on the hold shelf for the student to check out once it has been returned to the library.
• We are bound by any restrictions on use imposed by the lending library. Infrequently, the use of the borrowed material may be limited to In-Library-Use-Only.

Time to Arrive

• Please allow sufficient time for the material to arrive.
• Articles or digital copies of book chapters are usually available within one week.
• Physical books can take at least 2 weeks (sometimes longer), for arrival, as some of these may be coming by mail from out of state. For this reason, the cutoff date for physical loan requests is 3 weeks before the end of the current semester for students, adjunct professors, and staff.

Picking up Interlibrary Loan items

• Articles are provided as digital files uploaded to a document-sharing site for a limited time or as attachments to an email.  You will be notified through your UTPB email account when your file is ready to download.
• Book chapters are furnished as digital files uploaded to a document-sharing site for a limited time or as attachments to an email. You will be notified through your UTPB email account when your file is ready to download.
• Physical loans like books come to the J. Conrad Dunagan Library.  You will be notified through your UTPB email account when your book has arrived and is ready to be picked up at the Library Services desk.
• Some items come with restrictions set by the lending institutions that limit them to in-library use only.
• Physical loans can be recalled for immediate return by their lending institutions at any time. If a loaned item is recalled by its lender, its loan period will be shortened, and the item cannot be renewed. If the recalled ILL item is not turned in by the due date of the newly shortened loan period, the patron will be charged a daily fine of $1 until the item is returned.

Renewing an item

• All renewals for Interlibrary Loan items must be requested through the J. Conrad Dunagan Library at least 3 days before the due date. 
• The loan period for returnable items is set by the lending library.  Some will allow renewals, but some will not.  If your renewal request is granted, you will be notified through your UTPB email account of the new due date.  If denied, please return the item to the Library by the original due date. 
• Overdue items cannot be renewed. 

Returning Items

• Returnable items borrowed through ILL have a loan period that is set by the lending library.  Sometimes the lending library will allow renewals, sometimes not. We ask that borrowers respect the due date that is written on the book strap.
• When Dunagan Library is lax in returning materials borrowed through ILL, we damage our reputation with other institutions which could result in our borrowing privileges being terminated. It is crucial, therefore, that materials borrowed through ILL be returned in a timely manner.
• A daily fine of $1 is charged for overdue ILL items and also if the item has been recalled by the lending institution and was not turned in by the shortened due date. Habitual disregard of due dates can result in the loss of library InterLibrary loan privileges.

Lending Items

• UTPB will not lend items from archives, special collections, serials, audiovisual, microforms, youth, textbooks, or leisure reading. Limited sections of books/ebooks and serials may be requested as digital copies within copyright limitations.
• UTPB will not lend books that are new to us (cataloged within the last six months). Because we don’t lend videos or DVDs, we do not borrow them. UTPB is a reciprocal lender. Our group affiliations include Amigos and LVIS.
• Distance Education Learners whose current address is more than 50 miles away from the UTPB campus may request items from the library collection to be delivered to them. 
  Requests for items, not within archives, or special collections, need to be submitted to the Interlibrary Loan Department via email. 
• For items not in our collection, the user would have to submit an Interlibrary Loan request online through the library catalog.

Conrad Dunagan Library will follow the guidelines of the Interlibrary Loan Code of the United States.

COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS

The copyright law of the United States (title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of the copyrighted material.

Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, the fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.