Interlibrary Loan

When you want to read or use a book, article, or other item that the University of Jamestown libraries do not own, you can request it from another library through Interlibrary Loan (ILL). ILL is a service provided free of charge by the University of Jamestown to its students, faculty, and staff.

REQUESTING BOOKS, ARTICLES & MORE

If you are searching the catalog or a database and come across an article, book, or other item that the UJ libraries do not own, follow the instructions below to request it through ILL.

IN THE CATALOG

You can request items directly from the catalog through the following steps:

1. When you’re viewing a catalog record for an item that we don’t own, scroll down to the How to get it section of the record.
2. If you’re not signed in, you’ll see a yellow banner that says “Please sign in to check if there are any request options.” Click on the Sign in link in that yellow banner.
   • Select the UJ Students, Faculty, and Staff option from the orange box that pops up.
   • Enter your UJ email address and password just as you would if you were signing into your email account.
3. After you’ve signed in and are redirected back to the catalog, click on the Request through Interlibrary Loan link that is now under the How to get it section.
4. An ILL form will appear, and most of the fields should be filled out. Double check that the information is correct and as complete as it can be.
   • Double check that your Pickup location reflects the UJ campus at which you are based. Note: If you’re an online student and you’re requesting a physical item, please enter your current address in the Comment field and we will mail the item to you once we receive it.
   • Enter a date after which you don’t need the item. Select a date a few weeks away so that the library has plenty of time to process your request.
5. Click on Send Request at the bottom of the form. A green banner that says, “Your request was successfully placed,” will appear when the form has been submitted.
6. You can view the requests you’ve submitted by clicking on your name in the top right corner of the page and selecting My Requests from the drop-down menu.
   • On a mobile device, select the three dots in the top right of the screen, then select Library Card from the drop-down menu. This takes you to an overview of your library account, where you’ll find all of your loans and requests.

IN A DATABASE

Not all of the articles you’ll find in a database are full-text. If that’s the case, you can request the article(s) through Interlibrary Loan through the following steps:

1. When viewing a record for an article that is not full text, first look for a Find it at UJ or Get it at UJ button. Clicking this will search the library’s catalog for the article.
   • If we have access to the full-text of the article through another database, those links will be listed in the library’s catalog record for the article.
   • If we don’t have access to the article through any of our other databases, follow the steps listed above to sign in and submit the Request through Interlibrary Loan form.
2. If you don’t see a Find it at UJ or Get it at UJ button, you can still search the library’s catalog for the article. Usually, copying and pasting the title of the article into the library catalog search will be enough to locate the article, if we have it. (If it doesn’t appear in your search results at first, toggle on the “Expand my results” option at the top of the filters on the right side of the catalog.)

BLANK REQUEST FORM

As a final option, you can manually fill out a blank request form through the link below. Please use this as a last resort, and fill out the form as completely and accurately as you can so that we can find the correct item for you.

Submit an ILL Request

TIMETABLE FOR DELIVERY

Requested materials are normally processed on the same day as they are submitted. Article requests are often fulfilled within 1-2 business days. However, the ILL department cannot guarantee the time it takes for materials to arrive. The following timetable serves as a guide for physical item requests:

• North Dakota Libraries: 3 – 5 Working Days
• Minnesota Libraries: 5 – 10 Working Days
• Outside Tri-State (ND, SD, MN): 5 – 15 Working Days

DELIVERY

Periodical (article) requests will either be e-mailed to your UJ e-mail address or be mailed directly to your campus box upon arrival. Photocopies are yours to keep. If you’ve requested a book or a physical item, you’ll receive an email at your UJ email address when it’s ready to pick up.

If you’re an online student and you’ve requested a print book or other physical item, we will mail your item to the address you provided once we have received it.

When a request for a digital copy of an article has been fulfilled, you’ll get an email with the subject “The article you requested is now available” (or something similar). The email may not be from a uj.edu email address; you might see und.edu, worldcat.org, or minitex.umn.edu addresses. A PDF will either be attached to the email for you to save as needed or available for download from a link in the email.

If the email includes a download link, follow the instructions in the email. This may include a prompt to enter a PIN or password also found in the email, or a prompt to log into your UJ library account.

After entering the PIN or password, or logging into your library account, you should be able to download and save the article as a PDF or print it.

Note that there will may be time constraints on viewing the article—typically 14 or 30 days after you receive the email, or 5 views.

RENEWALS

Most lending libraries are willing to renew ILL materials. Please email the ILL Department at bfischer@uj.edu at least two days before your material is due.

QUESTIONS?

If you run into any complications while trying to ILL an item please contact Brenda Fischer, Library Services Associate, at bfischer@uj.edu or 701-252-3467 ext. 5530, or stop by the library.