Interlibrary Loan: Interlibrary Loan FAQ's

Interlibrary loan (also called ILL) allows Bertrand to borrow materials from other libraries for you to use at no cost to you. If you ever come across a book you'd like to read, a movie you'd like to watch, or an article you want to use in your studies that Bertrand doesn't own, you can request it through interlibrary loan and we'll do our best to get it for you. 

Please be aware that you cannot request textbooks required for your classes through interlibrary loan.

EZBorrow is a service Bertrand participates in that allows us to borrow physical interlibrary loans (such as books and DVD's) from libraries across the Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey area in only a few days. Whenever possible, we try to borrow through EZBorrow because of how fast and simple it is. You will know that a request you have placed was received from EZBorrow if it has a pale blue band around it with the EZborrow logo, shown below.

Unlike most interlibrary loans, which you can keep track of in your ILLiad account, EZBorrow books are tracked in your Bertrand Library account. More information on how to do so is in the "How to" section of this guide. You should still contact illdept@bucknell.edu with any questions about EZBorrow books. All EZBorrow books have a set due date of 16 weeks from the day you pick them up, but they must be picked up within two weeks after they arrive. If an EZBorrow book is not picked up within two weeks after it goes on the hold shelf, it will be returned to its home library and you will have to request the book again. EZBorrow books cannot be renewed. 

You can request pretty much anything through interlibrary loan! The most common items are books, book chapters, and journal articles, but you can also request audiobooks, DVD's, CD's, and anything else you would find in a library. We can't always promise that we'll be able to get an item, but we'll certainly try! The only things we don't borrow are required course textbooks. 

Ebooks are a bit tricky, since many publishers don't allow libraries to share these. For this reason, almost all borrowing requests for full books will be filled as print copies. If you need the ebook version of a book, please write that in the notes field of your request and we will look into purchasing access to it.

The time it takes for you to receive your item varies based on the type of request you made as well as the rarity of the item. We do our best to fill your request as quickly as possible, but we're limited by the speed at which other libraries reply to us.

However, on average, requests for physical items take between 3-8 days to arrive. Requests for copies of articles or book chapters are usually filled within 3 days, although they can come as soon as a few hours after you place your request.

Requests for rarer items will likely take longer to fill. For example, if you request a German translation of the Lord of the Rings book series, we may have to request it from a library in Germany, which would take much longer to arrive than a book coming from Pittsburgh. 

If your request is taking longer than you'd like, you can always contact Research Services for help finding similar resources. 

If you request a physical item, the due date of your item depends on the loan period set by the library we borrow it from. Some libraries ask that we return their item in a month, some allow us to borrow it for three months. However, if you need more time with the item, you can always request to renew your item in ILLiad. Keep in mind that there is a chance that the lending library won't allow a renewal (although most will). Check the How-To section of this guide for help requesting a renewal.

If you request a copy of an article or book chapter, you will have access to it in ILLiad for a month after you receive it. If you plan on needing the article for longer, you will need to download the pdf to your personal computer within the month.

We ask that you treat ILL loans just as nicely you would any other book that isn't yours. Don't highlight or write notes in your loan, and please remove any sticky notes before returning the item. We also ask that you make sure to keep the book band in place and any paperwork inside the book. 

If you damage, lose, or fail to return the book, you may be charged the cost of replacing it. The library that lent us the book will determine that cost.

Be advised that you cannot request required course books through ILL. If you need help with the cost of acquiring required course materials, please contact financial aid.

We will always make our best effort to get the items you want for you. However, it occasionally happens that there are very few libraries that own the item, or that no libraries are able to lend us the item you want. This doesn't happen often, but if it does, we'll evaluate the item and see if we can buy it and add it to our collection. It may take a while for us to first exhaust our borrowing options and then evaluate the item for purchase, so please be patient as we work to fill your request. You can always track the status of your request in ILLiad to see where it is in the interlibrary loan process.

If you need the item for your studies and we can't get it for you, or you need the item faster than we can get it, please contact Research Services for help finding similar resources.

If you have an urgent need for a physical item, please use the "Rush and Hold at the Circulation Desk" option in the ILLiad request form. 

Or, use the "Needed by" field to tell us that we should stop trying to fill your request if we can't get it by that date.

If you have an urgent need for an electronic copy of something, the fastest way to get your item is to include the ISBN or ISSN of the book or journal it's from in your request. Requests for electronic copies that include the ISBN or ISSN number are automatically sent first through RapidILL, an automated service Bertrand Library subscribes to that allows copy requests to be filled as soon as a few hours after you submit them.

Nope! Bertrand Library provides all interlibrary loan services at no cost to you.

However, if you damage or lose a loaned book, you may be charged the cost of replacing it, which is set by the lending library.

Rarely, a library we borrowed from may ask us to return the item before its due date. This only happens when the lending library needs to put the item on hold for their own course reserves. If an item you borrowed is recalled, we will send you an email and ask that you return the item as soon as possible. We'll also send out another request to get the same item from a different library, so you don't have to worry about losing access.