Interlibrary Loan Policy

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) at Weber State University (WSU) is committed to providing access to materials outside our libraries’ collection for all of our patrons at no cost and in a reasonable time period. Our policy assists in the overall Collection Management Policy for the Stewart Library by working with a larger ecosystem of libraries to connect our patrons to materials that may not coincide with the goals of our collection, but that are nonetheless valuable to the edification and enjoyment of our patrons.

The WSU Library abides by the National Interlibrary Loan Code of the American Library Association (ALA), except in cases where special agreements with other institutions have been mutually adopted, thus superseding the relevant ALA agreements. Such agreements have been reached within the State of Utah, with the BCR-AMIGOS network, the sharing group LVIS, and with numerous other libraries.

The WSU Library is committed to sharing resources among libraries, and it is the policy of the Library to provide efficient, courteous and cost effective ILL service that:

1. Affords the WSU community access to resources that are not available in the Library’s collections.
2. Makes the Library’s resources available to patrons of other libraries.

Interlibrary Loan services are available to WSU students, faculty, staff, visiting scholars and individuals with current Alumni cards. Community borrowers should use their local public library for ILL requests.

Every reasonable effort will be made to locate material through regional, national and international sources and to expedite requests within the limits of the available ILL staff.

Interlibrary Loan staff follow the established policies and procedures for the use of OCLC and the online circulation system and respect the confidentiality of patron records and requests.

Interlibrary Loan service is traditionally subdivided into borrowing and lending. Borrowing refers to requests from the WSU community for resources that are not available in the Library’s collections. Lending refers to requests from other libraries for resources available at the WSU Library.

Borrowing for WSU patrons

Requests

1. Requests must be made using the online Interlibrary Loan request form. Telephone requests are not accepted.
2. The information supplied on the request form must be as accurate and complete as possible. Requests that cannot be verified will be canceled with a note asking for more clarification.
3. Requests for items owned by the WSU Library will be processed after it has been determined that they are not currently available in the collection.

Non-Circulating Materials

While all types of materials may be requested through ILL, the following categories of materials are generally non-circulating, and are therefore not available through ILL:

1. Rare or valuable materials.
2. Bulky or fragile materials that are difficult or expensive to ship.
3. Materials in high demand at the lending library.
4. Materials with local circulation restrictions (reference books, periodicals, dissertations, textbooks, and some media items).

Borrowing Privileges

1. Lending libraries may place restrictions on the use and photocopying of their materials. The WSU Library will strictly adhere to any restrictions specified by the lending library.
2. Most borrowed material may be photocopies under the “fair use” doctrine, which provides that some photocopying may be made for scholarly purposes. If such copying is specifically disallowed by the lending library, the borrower must comply with that restriction.
3. Borrowers are responsible for items received through ILL from the time the material is picked up until the time it is returned to the Service Desk of the WSU Library.
4. The WSU Library reserves the right to deny ILL borrowing privileges to anyone who abuses borrowed material or who disregards borrowing restrictions imposed by lending libraries.

Loan Periods

1. The length of the loan period is determined by the lending library.
2. Renewals may be requested for materials borrowed through ILL unless “non-renewable” is stated on the form attached to the item. Renewals must be requested within 14 days of the date the item is due back to the Service Desk of the WSU Library. Renewal approval is at the discretion of the lending library.
3. Materials must be returned to the Service Desk of the WSU Library by the date due.

Overdue and Lost Materials

1. A first overdue notice is sent to the patron when material is not returned by the date due.
2. Overdue fees of $2.00 per day are accruing beginning the first overdue day.
3. If the material is not returned within twenty one days of the due date, a hold will be placed on the patron’s registration, library privileges, transcripts, etc. the hold will be removed once the item is returned and any fines levied by the lending library are paid.
4. If an item is not returned, any charges assessed by the lending library will be passed on to the borrower.

Lending to other libraries

Contact Information

Request

The WSU Library lends to any requesting institution submitting its request on appropriate ILL forms or through the OCLC-ILL subsystem. Priority is given to requests from Utah libraries and BCR-AMIGOS and LVIS network libraries.

Non-Circulating Items

Course Reserves, Archives, Special Collections, microform, bound periodicals and reference materials are designated as non-circulating and will not be lent through ILL. Scans of material in these collections may be made at the discretion of the individual responsible for these collections.

Journals

Scans of articles are provided in lieu of loaning journal volumes and/or issues.

Loan Periods

1. Monographs are lent through ILL for six week checkout.
2. Media is lent for a one week checkout and must be returned via FedEx/UPS.
3. Items lent through ILL that are requested by a WSU patron will be recalled.

Overdue Materials

Overdue notices are sent on items that are not returned. Borrowing libraries will be billed for replacement cost of material that is two months overdue.

Restriction of Use

Borrowing privileges may be revoked if an institution consistently damages or fails to replace lost WSU material or if restrictions on borrowed items are ignored.

Charges

The WSU Library does not charge for ILL lending or scanning.