Obtaining material
We provide ISU students, faculty and staff with access to information sources which are not available from the print collections or electronic subscriptions of ISU Library. We do this by either borrowing these resources or by getting photocopies or PDFs of them from other libraries or document supply centers.
If there is a book, journal article, conference paper or other information resource that you need for ISU-related work, and the University Library does not have it, you can request it from the Inter-Library Loan service and we will set about getting it for you.
Inter-library Loan and Document Supply Policy
Materials are loaned to ISU Library as a courtesy, and their conditions of use, including due dates, must be respected. Failure to return Inter-Library Loan materials on time jeopardizes ISU Library's liaisons with other libraries and could adversely affect other patrons needing Inter-Library Loan services.
As a result of this, users who subsequently return Inter-Library Loan materials late or lose a book, will lose Inter-Library Loan privileges and will be charged of any additional costs due to late return or lost of book to the lending library.
The law of copyright restricts how much of a work can be copied for the purpose of inter-library document supply. For instance we cannot get a photocopy of an entire book for you. If you wish to consult, say, more than one article in a particular journal-issue, it may be possible for us to borrow that journal-issue for you. The same applies to books and conference proceedings.
Most periodical articles will be PDFs for your retention. The law of copyright restricts the use of journal articles to your personal use for academic or educational purposes.
It may be possible to obtain material directly from the publishers or editor. As this can be expensive it is at the discretion of the University Library and can not be guaranteed.
Submitting a request:
Before making the request, please make sure that the item is not in the library by checking ISU Library catalogue.
Before making the request, please make sure that the item is not in the library by checking ISU Library catalogue.
- Go to EBSCO EDS and sign in. If the article is not available in the ISU Library collection, you can request it directly via the "Request item" button. All data will then be filled in automatically.
- You can also send your request by email to your Librarian. Enter as many important data as possible such as title, author, year of publication, ISBN or ISSN, journal title. You will receive an email once the book or the article has arrived and you can collect it at the Library.
For general queries regarding this inter-library loan service or submitted requests, please contact your librarian.
