Q. How long does Interlibrary Loan take?

Interlibrary Loan can be as quick as a few hours for articles and 3-4 days for books and media; however, the process can also take weeks depending on which libraries own the material and how quickly they can provide it to us.

We always try to obtain requested materials as quickly as possible. If you have an upcoming deadline or want to check on the status, please let us know at jis@ecu.edu or 252-328-6068. You may also check on the status of your request in ILLiad. 

If possible, please try to place requests far enough in advance of any deadline so that we have time to process the request, search, and acquire it before it is needed. 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. The date defaults to 30 days, but you can set it shorter or longer, depending on your needs. 

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) borrows materials from other libraries, museums, non-profit organizations, and government agencies across the country and around the world. Since we are most often asking to borrow items, we have limited control over which institution will fulfill our request or how quickly they will do so. We're always trying to find partners that will provide materials reliably, quickly, and cheaply. So, we can have the delays and expenses of finding the libraries that own the items, having them look for the items, scan or package the items, wait for the items to arrive in the mail, etc. We do sometimes purchase articles and books from publishers and vendors -- in those cases, we usually receive items within hours or within a week, but not always. 

See below for an overview of some of the complex steps involved: 

• ILL staff receives and processes your request in ILLiad.
• • We verify your request and ensure that the library does not already own it. Not all requests are easy to understand. Foreign language materials and citations with abbreviations, misspellings, or information in the wrong fields delay our processing.
  • We locate potential lenders and ask them to provide the material to Joyner Library for your use.
• Your request is sent to a lending string of up to 15 potential libraries. These usually are libraries with which we have special arrangements to provide materials to each other's patrons at minimum cost and quickly. Materials not owned by our preferred libraries are sought from other libraries, who may not be as willing or able to loan to us.
• • Each library is usually allowed multiple weekdays (up to four; sometimes longer, sometimes shorter) to respond with a "yes" or "no" answer to our request. Most reply quickly, but others take several days to respond, especially if they have staff absent, their institution is on break, etc.
  • During the hours or days that a lending library has your request, it must check its catalog to see if it the item is owned, is checked-in, and is able to be loaned/photocopied. It must then check its shelves to see if the item is actually there and is in a good enough condition to be loaned or photocopied.
  • It then must either scan and send electronically, or package the item for mailing or shipping.
  • • Due to the high cost of expedited shipping services like FedEx and UPS, few libraries use them to ship loaned materials. As fast and as reliable as the US Postal Service is, few libraries use its expedited delivery service for packages or pay first class postage to send packages to libraries. Most often, libraries use 'library rate' which is similar to 'media mail'. Materials borrowed from other countries may spend several weeks in shipping alone.
  • It also must update its request management system and check the item out on its circulation system.
• If a lending library says no for whatever reason (checked out, lost, is non-circulating, rare, fragile, etc.), the request is then sent to another library in the string until one agrees to provide it. If all libraries in the lending string respond "no" it comes back to the ILL staff at Joyner for review. If the citation is verified and other libraries are located, your request is sent back off and repeats the above steps until we have filled the request or exhausted possible lenders.
• Once your request item is sent to us by the lending library, Joyner's staff must again process it.
• • We have to unpack it if it were mailed/shipped. If sent electronically, we must receive the digital document.
  • We verify we received the right item.
  • We inform the lending library that the package or article has been received.
  • We label the item or save the PDF.
  • We notify you that it is available for you to pickup or send you an email with a link to the electronic document.

If you need any more information about the process, making requests, or just general information, please contact the Joyner ILL office at jis@ecu.edu or 252-328-6068.