William F. Chatlos Library

Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary loan (ILL) expands and enhances the collection of the FC library by providing Florida College students, faculty, and staff with access to the resources of libraries across the state of Florida and even across the country.

Who is eligible?

Interlibrary loan services are available to:

  • Florida College faculty and staff
  • Currently enrolled students

What is available through ILL?

  • Books
  • Journal articles
  • Audiovisual materials (may be difficult to obtain)
  • Dissertations (may be difficult to obtain)

What is not available through ILL?

  • Rare materials
  • Damaged or fragile materials
  • Reference and reserve materials
  • Complete issues of periodicals

How do I request something through ILL?

There are three ways you can request an item through ILL:

Please have as much of the following information as possible when submitting your request:

Books

Title, author, publisher, year of publication, edition (if you need a specific edition), and ISBN if known.

Journal article

Journal title/source, article title, author, volume, issue, page numbers, date of publication, ISSN if known.

What happens to my request?

  • Your request is checked to make sure it is not available in the FC library and for accuracy. It is then entered into the OCLC Interlibrary Loan system, the online bibliographic database which provides us with nationwide holdings information for books and journals.
  • 5 potential lenders will be selected in the following order of preference: Bay area libraries, Florida libraries, libraries in the Southeastern states. (We have reciprocal agreements in place which allow us to borrow materials from these libraries in return for which we agree to lend them materials from our library). The system will automatically route the request to each library until a positive response is received.
  • The lending library will send the material via courier (within Florida) or US Mail.

How will I know the status of my request?

Unless you request otherwise, you will be notified by phone or e-mail when

  1. We are notified that the material has been shipped.
  2. Your material has been received and is available for you to pick up.

How long before my materials arrive?

That depends on how many libraries look at the request before one agrees to fill it and on when and how they ship the item. If the item has been obtained from a library within Florida, it will generally ship via the Statewide Ground Delivery Service. This is an initiative designed to promote ILL within the state of Florida by reducing the cost of shipping items to other libraries. Florida College receives courier service one day a week (on Wednesdays) so items may take a few days to arrive here after they have been shipped.

How long can I keep ILL materials?

  • Photocopies are yours to keep
  • The due date for all other material is set by the lending library and is indicated on the ILL sleeve on the book. The loan period begins when the book first arrives at the library, not when you pick the book up, so be sure to stop by promptly when you are notified that material is available.
  • Do not return ILL materials through the book drop. Please bring them to the circulation desk.
  • The lending library, not Florida College, decides if renewals are allowed. Generally, an item can be renewed only once for an additional 2 weeks. If the book is already overdue, we cannot ask the lending library for a renewal. If you think that you may want a renewal, please contact Brooke Ward as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the request to be processed.

What are my responsibilities as an Interlibrary Loan User?

You are responsible for ILL materials from the time you check them out until they are returned. If the material is lost or damaged while in your possession, you must pay any repair, replacement, or processing fees which the lending library charges.

Will there be charges?

The library no longer charges for Interlibrary Loan requests from faculty, staff, or students.