Interlibrary Loan

What is Interlibrary Loan?

Interlibrary loan (ILL) provides access to materials owned by other libraries; it supplements the Five College Delivery system by obtaining items that cannot be ordered using "Place Request" in Discover Advanced.

• Interlibrary loan borrows both in and out of state and overseas when necessary. The loan period is set by the lending library and is usually 3-4 weeks; renewals are usually possible. Generally, however, think of these as short-term loans.
• Books are usually easy to borrow. Scores, videos and sound recordings are more difficult, but we will try to get you what you need.
• Interlibrary loan also obtains journal articles and book chapters from materials not available online at Smith. These copies usually arrive as PDFs.

Who Can Borrow

• All currently-affiliated Smith College faculty, staff and students may use the Smith College interlibrary loan service.
• Affiliates of the other Five Colleges, alumnae and public borrowers are not eligible to this service. (Use the library of your home institution or your public library, as appropriate.)

Turnaround Time

• Most requests are sent out to a potential supplier within 24-48 hours. If you submit a large number of requests on a single day, they may not all be sent out on the same day.
• Articles usually arrive within a few days.
• Books, DVDs/videos, etc. can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks to arrive, depending on how far they must travel and what shipping method the supplier uses.
• Service may be slower during the peak of the semester or during vacation periods.
• If you have special needs, please consult with the interlibrary loan staff.

Cost

• Most interlibrary loans are provided to you free of charge, since the Libraries subsidize up to $25 per request. For items over $25, you may be asked to pay the balance. (You may cancel the request if you'd rather not pay.)
• An annual per person subsidy is also in force.

Request Limits & Other Important Reminders

• You may have up to 50 active requests at one time.
• The lending library determines the loan period, options for renewal and any restrictions on use. You must adhere to any conditions placed by the lender.
• All materials borrowed via interlibrary loan are subject to recall by the lender at any time.
• You are responsible for any loss or damage fees.

How to Make a Request

Smith College Libraries accepts interlibrary loan requests in the following ways:

• OCLC (preferred)—our symbol is SNN
• Email: snnill@smith.edu

Fees

The following groups may borrow materials free of charge:

• Oberlin Group libraries
• Libraries with a signed reciprocal agreement with Smith College
• Massachusetts public libraries

Other institutions are charged $10 per request (both loans and copies). The following payment methods are accepted:

• IFM (preferred)
• Check—we will include an invoice with the item
• IFLA coupons

Circulation Policies

Materials are loaned for 4 weeks, and may be renewed once for another 4 weeks.

The following categories of materials generally do not circulate; exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis.

• Art oversize
• Art theses
• Newspapers
• Periodicals (bound and unbound)
• Reference books
• Sound recordings
• Special Collections materials
• Videocassettes/DVDs

General Collections

If you are interested in obtaining loans or photocopies from the general collections of the Smith College Libraries, please consult the interlibrary loan service at your own academic, corporate or public library. They can send an interlibrary loan request to the Smith College Libraries on your behalf. With few exceptions (see below), Smith does not provide such service directly to individuals.

Special Collections

If the material you seek is unique to Smith College and is housed in one of Smith's special collections, you may contact Special Collections directly.