Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Policy

Eligibility:

Current Oregon Tech students, faculty & staff.

Fees:

• Many libraries charge lending fees. The Oregon Tech Libraries subsidizes lending fees for current Oregon Tech students, faculty and staff. Costs greater than the subsidy ($30/request) are submitted to the requester for authorization before the request is filled.
• In addition to the lending fees and copyright fees that the Oregon Tech Libraries pay for faculty, students and staff ILL requests, each request involves the work of staff both at Oregon Tech and other institutions. These costs, on average, total more than $10.00 per request. Please use ILL judiciously so that we can continue to provide this service.
• Review Oregon Tech Libraries’ overdue fines and fees.

Requesting Materials:

• Request limits: We don’t limit the number of ILL requests for Oregon Tech students, faculty and staff. However, if you submit many ILL requests at one time we may need several days to process these. We may also refer you to a subject specialist librarian who might be able to help you find local material and resources.
• Because each request involves payment of lending fees, staff time at both the lending and borrowing libraries, and includes mailing costs please be sure to pick up the item you requested when you're notified that it has arrived. If you find you don't need the item please notify staff as soon as possible so we can return the material.
• Submitting requests for books, CDs and AV material: Before submitting an ILL request please search for the item in the Oregon Tech Catalog to make sure that it is not available at the Oregon Tech Libraries or through Summit library. Note that staff will cancel ILL requests for items available at the Oregon Tech Libraries or through Summit.
• Submitting requests for articles and book chapters: Before submitting an ILL request for articles and book chapters please search for article, journal or book titles in the Oregon Tech Catalog. If the article/book chapter is not owned by the Oregon Tech Libraries, you can place an ILL request by filling out a blank article request form.
• Textbooks: ILL cannot serve as a substitute for purchasing textbooks or required course material.
• Hard to find items: We may not be able to find libraries willing to lend the following items or it may take longer than usual to get them: audio and visual material, reference material, textbooks, items published within the last year, items held by international libraries, and rare or fragile items. Please indicate how long you are willing to wait for an item by entering a "Cancel Date" in your request form.
• Renewals: Due dates for ILL items are set by the lending libraries. You may request a renewal within three days before an item is due. Contact library staff for assistance. You will be notified by email whether the lending library allowed or denied the renewal.
• Checking the status of your requests: Contact library staff for assistance.
• Notifications: all notifications are sent through e-mail.
• Request materials

Delivery:

• Articles and book chapters generally arrive within 2-3 days. You will be notified of the arrival via email and directed to an outside file hosting service (e.g. OCLC Article Exchange or Clio hosting) to obtain your articles.
• Books, AV items, and other returnable material can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks, depending on how far they must travel and what shipping method the supplier uses.

General:

• Interlibrary loan (ILL) provides access to research materials owned by other libraries; it supplements the Oregon Tech Libraries by obtaining materials that cannot be ordered using the "Request item" feature in the Oregon Tech Catalog. Interlibrary Loan borrows from other Oregon libraries and from out-of-state libraries as well.
• The loan period is set by the lending library and is usually 3-4 weeks. Renewals are usually possible -- but not always so think of these are short-term loans. We strongly suggest that you request renewals at least 5 days before the due date.
• Books are typically easy to borrow. Videos, sound recordings, etc. are more difficult to obtain, but we will try to get what you need.
• The Interlibrary loan service can also order copies of articles from journals not owned by Oregon Tech. These copies usually arrive as PDFs and are yours to keep.
• Since Interlibrary loan materials are lent through the generosity of other libraries, please return books promptly and in the same condition you found them so that our Oregon Tech Libraries and patrons can continue to have access to others material.