If an item is unavailable at the Wahlstrom Library, we can request it from another library through Interlibrary Loan. This is a service for currently enrolled students, faculty, and staff for course-related research material. The cost for this service is paid by the library if within acceptable limits. If the cost is not within acceptable limits, we will contact you to ask if you want to proceed with the request before ordering the item.
How to Order an Item
When you search for articles or books using Library databases or OneSearch and encounter an item without the full text, click the link to Request Item through Interlibrary Loan found on the Full Text Finder screen. You will be brought to an Interlibrary Loan Request Form pre-filled with the information for the article or book that you would like to request.
- Enter your personal information on the bottom half of the form and click ‘Submit’.
- Make sure to include a ‘Date Needed’ which is the last date this article would be useful to you. For example, if you need an article for a research paper due on Aug 10, 2020, enter Aug 9, 2020. This way, another library will not send items if it is past the date they would be useful to you, and our Library will not be charged for items no longer of use to you.
- Always do a quick Google search to see if the article you want has been placed freely on the web by the author as more than half of the requests received every day by the Interlibrary Loan department are available for free on the web.
- Requests are processed in the order they are received.
- We can process up to 7 requests per person per week.
- We are unable to request from other libraries the following materials:
- Items that have not yet been published (Pub-Med Prepub alerts)
- Materials the library owns (unless it is missing)
- Required course textbooks
- Dissertations and theses
- Items restricted from Interlibrary Loan by publishers and/or license agreements
Item Delivery
If an item is available from another institution, how quickly it will be delivered will vary depending on the lending library and how many libraries decline to honor the request. Our system allows us to look up an item and see a list of libraries that own it. When we place the request, it is sent from library to library until the request can be filled. The more rare, expensive, unique, or electronic an item you request, the longer the request will take and the less likely we will be able to obtain it.
- Articles
- Will be emailed to your UB email account in PDF format or you will be emailed a link to use to retrieve the article.
- Often arrive within a few hours or days, but may take longer.
- Books
- Will be held at the Information Desk on the first floor for you to pick up. You will be notified of their arrival.
- Usually arrive within 1-2 weeks.
If you can’t wait for a book or article to get shipped here because you haven’t left enough time, ask a librarian on the 3rd floor which library in the area owns the item you need. Before driving to another library call first to ask them to check the shelf to verify the item is there, if you can borrow or make copies, and if it is an academic or special library, to make sure they allow guests in the library. Also, confirm that any electronic source is open to walk-ins as this will be allowed or not allowed according to their library policies.
Distance Learning students
Students who do not come to the Bridgeport campus can request Articles and Chapters through Interlibrary Loan which are delivered via email as explained above.
Interlibrary Loan books should be requested through your local library, as shipping twice (to our library and then to you) takes too much time.
Blank Interlibrary Loan Request Form
Use this Interlibrary Loan Request Form to request books or articles that cannot be found when searching our databases, ejournals, or OneSearch.