Interlibrary loan (ILL) is a free service the library provides to supplement our collection. If the library does not own or subscribe to an item that you want, you may request it via ILL and we will do our best to obtain it from another library. Through ILL you may borrow books, articles, chapters, and other items not available at William James Library. All current students, faculty, and staff have an ILL account set up and ready to use.
Interlibrary loan is a service in which we borrow materials from other libraries that we do not have access to within our own collection. When you place a request, the library staff at William James College contacts other libraries that own the material to ask for a copy or loan. When a library is able to fulfill a request, they are known as the lending library. The lending library electronically sends PDFs of chapters and articles and ships books to our library.
You may keep PDFs and electronic copies of requested materials indefinitely, but you must adhere to the due date policy set by the lending library if you borrow a book.
Although we offer interlibrary loan free to our community, please do note that this is not a free service. Fees to borrow, shipping charges, and membership fees apply. So we ask that you be mindful when using interlibrary loan and order only those materials that you will use in your research.
| What you CAN Request | What you CANNOT Request |
|---|---|
| books | new books (less than 6 months old) |
| chapters | eBooks |
| articles | textbooks |
| DVDs* | psychological testing materials |
| dissertations | whole journal articles |
*we will try our best to obtain these types of items, but we are often unable to borrow them due to lending libraries' policies.
NOTICE: WARNING OF COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS
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 these 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 makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use", that user may be liable for copyright infringement.
The library reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy request if, in its judgment, fulfillment of that request would involve violation of copyright law.
