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Interlibrary Loan Policies & Information

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a free service offered to Connecticut College faculty, staff and students. The purpose of ILL is to obtain access to any desired materials for the College community.

We have developed partnerships with an extensive array of academic, public and special libraries to achieve the service goal of timely access to materials not within our collection. Please don’t hesitate to ask for anything you require.

Requesting Physical Items with Interlibrary Loan

Connecticut College faculty, staff, and students can request physical materials in many formats, including books, LPs, DVDs, CDs, scores, dissertations, and microforms. We will do our best to obtain your requested material as quickly as possible. Please feel free to contact the Interlibrary Loan office with any questions or concerns.

Requests may be placed for:

  • Items not owned by Connecticut College libraries.
  • Items owned by Connecticut College that are checked out, missing, or lost.
  • Items in a different desired format than what is available in the Connecticut College collections.

Please check the Connecticut College library catalog to see if the item you are looking for is available already, in your desired format.

Requesting Digital Items with Interlibrary Loan

Connecticut College Faculty, Staff, and students can request individual chapters or articles from books, journals, conference proceedings, theses, dissertations, reports, newspapers, or microfilm. We will do our best to obtain requested material as quickly as possible. The turnaround time is generally within 24 hours.

You will receive an email when your request is delivered to your account.

How to Submit a Request

Picking Up Physical Loans

ILL users pick up their loan requests at the Shain Library Circulation desk. Users may pick up ILL loans during library hours.

Each request must be picked up by the requester, unless confirmed with the Interlibrary Loan Specialist. Don't hesitate to contact the ILL office as needed.

Please have your Connecticut College ID or driver’s license ready to present to Circulation Desk staff.

After Picking Up Your Loan

Loan restrictions may apply to some items and loans can be recalled by the supplying library at any time.

Please use all borrowed items with care and respect. All undergraduates are subject to fees levied by the lending libraries for lost or damaged materials.

Due Dates

Due dates for ILL loans vary, but are viewable in your ILLiad account, and are always printed on the slip on the front of the loaned material.

Renewals 

Usually, loans can be extended. One renewal is automatically requested for any loans still checked out approximately one week before their due date. If the supplying library grants a renewal, you will receive an email with the new due date. This is the final due date.

Returning ILL Materials

ILL borrowed materials should be returned to the Shain Library Circulation desk, or Shain Library book drop, with the paperwork still carefully attached.

Your request will be completed and returned to the lending library's collection at the earliest opportunity. You can view your request history under the "history" tab, in your ILLiad account.

Copyright

By registering to use Interlibrary Loan services and submitting requests for materials, users accept responsibility for complying with United States Copyright Law.

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials.

Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of those specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." If a user requests, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

Interlibrary Loan Policies

Please use all borrowed items with care and respect. Borrowers are responsible for returning ILL materials on time and in good condition. All undergraduates are subject to fees levied by the lending libraries for lost or damaged materials.

Overdue Items

ILL materials more than  60 days overdue will be declared lost. If ILL materials are held past their due date, the user’s account may be blocked until the materials are returned. Please don’t hesitate to contact the ILL department if you have any questions or concerns.

It is very important to return borrowed materials on time. Lending libraries can, and do, block us from borrowing more items if we have overdue books. This can directly impact other Connecticut College students, faculty and staff.

Lost & Damaged ILL Items

If an item borrowed through Interlibrary Loan is lost or damaged, the borrower is responsible for the replacement cost of the material as determined by the lending library. Replacement costs can differ depending on the library and the item. Some libraries will not accept replacement copies so please contact ILL office before purchasing a replacement.

Recalled Items

Occasionally, a lending library may recall their books because they are needed by their own patrons or for their own reserve. These books must be returned immediately. Connecticut College ILL will contact you with the updated status, and inform you that the due date has changed. Please feel free to respond directly to that email to let us know if you require further use, in which case we will obtain a copy from a different lender. 

Additional Information:

Thank you for using interlibrary loan!

Don’t hesitate to contact Jana Pietrzyk at jpietrzyk@conncoll.edu, with any questions or concerns.