The ECU Libraries Interlibrary Loan services always try to obtain requested materials as quickly as possible. The time can vary greatly, though.
- Articles/chapters sometimes can come as quickly as within a few hours or days.
- Books and other physical items can sometimes come as quickly as within five days.
- However, the process can also take weeks depending on which libraries own the material and how quickly they can provide it to us.
Whenever possible, it is best to place requests far enough in advance of any deadline to allow time for unexpected delays.
If you know that you are working under a deadline when you place your request, please update the Not Wanted After / Need By date on the request form to reflect your actual deadline and provide any additional details in the Notes box or email jis@ecu.edu or call 252-328-6068 to let us know.
The Interlibrary Loan Process
Request Processing
- ECU Libraries' employees typically verify your request and try to find libraries that can lend or provide a copy of what you have requested within a day.
- Incomplete citations with abbreviations or misspellings may delay processing.
- We have networks of libraries and other providers worldwide that we can ask.
Other Libraries Processing
- Potential lending libraries receive your request from ECU and check their availability and condition.
- Each library asked has several days to respond.
- If they can provide, they prepare items for shipping or electronic delivery.
- If they cannot provide, your request moves on to another library, starting the clock over again at the next library.
Delivery & Notification
- Nearly all articles and chapter copies are sent electronically as PDFs. Some few coming from other countries or restricted by licenses come by mail.
- For books and other physical items, our preferred libraries ship to ECU in 3-5 days by UPS or FedEx. Most others use First Class or Library Rate U.S. Postal Service shipping, which can take 7-14 days. Items borrowed from other countries may take weeks to arrive.
- Once received at ECU, we process the item within 1-2 days and notify you for pickup or send you a link to the article file.
Questions?
Please contact the Joyner Interlibrary Loan office at jis@ecu.edu or 252-328-6068.
