Sometimes you need books or articles that our library does not have in its collection or in full text from our online services. In that case all current LEC students, faculty and staff may request these items through the library's interlibrary loan service, called ILL for short. We will then request these items for you from other libraries, free of charge.

How ILL Works:
ILL requests are made on this website: use one online form for books and another form for articles. When you fill out the form (with as complete information as possible!), click on the Submit button at the bottom, and your request is sent as an email message to our ILL librarian. Once your request is received the librarian submits this request through the OCLC ILL system to several other libraries that own the item you need. The first library that has the item will then retrieve it from its collection and mail it to us (some libraries will even fax or email articles). As soon as the item you requested arrives, we will send you an email message that your ILL request may now be picked up at the library's circulation desk.

How long does it take to get an item I've requested?
We advise that you allow 5-8 business days between submitting your ILL request and receiving it. That said, many libraries typically send materials much faster than that, and some libraries are now faxing or emailing articles, which results in next-day service.

Are there any limits on what I can get through ILL?
Our library uses OCLC's ILL service for sharing resources between over 8500 libraries, which typically provides 95% of the materials requested by member libraries. Even with this system, however, there are still limits to what we can obtain from other libraries:

• We can only obtain ILL materials that libraries that are willing to share with us: Libraries voluntarily cooperate to provide ILL service to each other, and just because a library's online catalog says it owns an item doesn't guarantee that this library will loan it to anyone else.

• Libraries are typically reluctant to lend some kinds of materials: For instance, most libraries will not loan reference books, even to their own patrons. As another example, many libraries prefer not to loan AV materials (CD recordings, DVD's, videotapes, etc.) through ILL because these items are more likely to become damaged in transit.

• We do not borrow from non-OCLC libraries: With a 95% success rate, the OCLC ILL system serves our college community very well.

• OCLC's ILL service is based mainly on libraries in the United States: Although U.S. libraries have actively shared resources with one another for decades, foreign libraries have yet to embrace this concept, and few of them currently cooperate with OCLC's ILL system.

For further information: Contact the Reference Librarian, Christine Strlich (440-375-7403)