Have you ever heard of the phrase, "the world is at your fingertips"? Well, if you thought this sounds silly or far-fetched, then you haven't heard of Interlibrary Loan. When current K-State students, faculty, and staff use Interlibrary Services, the world of books and knowledge really can be at your fingertips! Let me enlighten you with a few facts about Interlibrary Loan so you're armed and ready to take on the world on your own, that is, along with K-State Libraries and Interlibrary Services by your side.
So I may have gotten ahead of myself... let me first explain two terms that we'll be using:
- Interlibrary Services is the name of a department in K-State Libraries.
- Interlibrary Loan is what Interlibrary Services does --- it's the service they provide.
And what exactly is that service you might ask? Well, Interlibrary Services benefits you because they can get you most any library material that K-State Libraries doesn't have (this does not include textbooks --- we can not borrow any textbooks required for your classes!). For physical items, we simply borrow the material from another library. Articles and books chapters are scanned by a library that has access to the material and sent to us electronically.
So your search in the K-State Libraries catalog uncovered that we unfortunately have no books on Ghostbusterology? Or perhaps you clicked on the Get It button for that one perfect article only to find it's actually a "We'll try to Get It" button in disguise because we don’t actually own the journal? Or we own the book you need but you can't find it in the stacks or it's checked out by someone else? No problem! You can request all these items through Interlibrary Loan!
But how exactly does this process work? It's not quite as easy as clapping your hands or snapping your fingers to have the books magically appear. But all you need is your computer, a K-State email, and 2-5 days for an article and 3-10 days for a book (not including weekends! And remember that this is an estimated time, it all depends on where the item is coming from --- a book from KU is going to take a couple days while a book from The British Library may take several weeks). There are also some rare or valuable items that we’d gladly borrow for you, if the library that owns it would lend it to us. This is rare, though, but it’s always worth asking!
Access ILLiad, the Interlibrary Loan interface, by clicking on Request an Interlibrary Loan under Services on the K-State Libraries home page. This service is not tied to your eID or iSIS account so you'll have to create a new account the first time you use it. It's quick and easy to set up. Just go to the link titled First Time Users Click Here and fill out the form.
Here are some tips for setting up your account:
- Email Address --- You MUST use your K-State email
- Pickup Location --- If you live on campus or near Manhattan, choose Hale Library or VetMed, depending on which you visit most or is closest to you. This is where you will pick up all physical library materials you request.
- Choose a Username --- This doesn't have to be the same as your eID, but that usually makes it easy to remember and we recommend it!
- Choose a Password --- Since this is not connected to your eID and password, this password won't change each semester when you have to change your password for your webmail, so choose something you'll remember!
Once your account is set up, the Get It! button really does mean Get It! For instance, remember that article you wanted, but K-State Libraries didn’t have the journal online or on the shelf? Now you can click on the “We’ll try to get it for you” link in the Get It! box and request the article via Interlibrary Loan. You can also manually request an item by clicking on Request an Interlibrary Loan under Services on the K-State Libraries home page.
Simply log in and choose one of the request forms on the left hand side of the screen. Try to fill in as much information on the request form as you can --- a complete citation will speed up the process and ensure that your request won't get canceled! Use the Deadline box if you require the material by a specific date, and if you are requesting something unusual or something missing from our stacks, use the Notes box to explain your situation to Interlibrary Services.
If there was ever a reason to start your research early, it's Interlibrary Loan. Keep in mind that putting a note on your request "ASAP. I need this by tomorrow!" will not always help you get that book quicker, especially in another library is mailing it from Florida --- it all depends on what libraries own the material you need and where they are located in relation to us --- you might call it the material's mileage!
Retrieved from the Flickr Creative Commons by eren thisvintagechica
Once your material is available, you'll get an email from Interlibrary Services. For physical materials, visit the pickup location with your Wildcat ID card. Electronic articles or book chapters will be available as a PDF document on the main page when you log in to your ILLiad account. But the document will only be there for 30 days, so be sure to print or save it on your personal computer.
If you have any questions or want to know more about what Interlibrary Services can do for you, call 785-532-7440 or email ill@ksu.edu.
What are you waiting for --- any library material out there could be yours!
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