Who may request Interlibrary Loan items?

Currently enrolled students of Occidental College, Occidental College Faculty Members and Staff Members of the College may request items through Interlibrary Loan. Other borrowers are ineligible for this service.

How much does it cost?

Interlibrary Loan will not charge for any requests from eligible patrons up to a limit of 40 requests per term per person. Any request over 40 will be charged to your OASys record at $10.00 per request.

How many Interlibrary Loan requests can I make?

You may place 40 requests per term at no charge. This includes requests that we cancel because we cannot fill them. Also included are requests canceled because Occidental College Library owns what you are requesting. Always search for the Book or Journal Title on OASYS to see if we own an item before placing your request.

Any requests over 40 will be charged to your OASys record at $10.00 per request.  

Where do I pick up my requests?

All books and articles that you request to be held for you may be picked up at the Circulation Desk on the main floor. You will need your library card. 

• Books will be held for 10 days and returned if you do not pick them up.
• Articles will be available at: http://oxy.illiad.oclc.org/illiad/logon.html and will be deleted 30 days after receipt.

How soon can I expect my request to arrive?

• Interlibrary Loan processes new requests within 18 business hours.*
• Books available from partner libraries may arrive in a couple of days.
• Books from other libraries can take 2 weeks or more to arrive. 
• We cannot guarantee what library will loan us a particular book.
• Article copies sent electronically from partner libraries may arrive as soon as one day after requesting, but it may take longer. 
• To check on the status of your requests, go to: http://oxy.illiad.oclc.org/illiad/logon.html
• If several libraries must be contacted before we find an available copy, the process will take longer. 
• Some libraries do send photocopies to us in the U.S. mail thus delaying receipt.

What is the loan period?

Books are normally due 30 days after they are received in the library. If the supplying library has given us a shorter loan period, we must honor it. Books not picked up after 10 days will be returned to the lending library. Interlibrary Loan Books CANNOT BE RENEWED. 

May I renew items?

No. To comply with the U.S. Interlibrary Loan Code, Interlibrary Loan books cannot be renewed.

What is the overdue fee?

• You will be charged $1.00 a day for the first 15 days. 
• After 15 days, you will be charged for replacement costs totaling $115.00. This includes a $90.00 replacement charge, $15.00 overdue fines, and a $10.00 non-refundable billing fee. 
• You will also be assessed $115.00 for items returned in damaged condition.

May I request videos?

Yes, but very few libraries loan out videos. We will try to borrow videos for you but we cannot guarantee success. Use a book request form for videos.

How about Dissertations and Masters' Theses?

Interlibrary Loan will attempt to borrow these, but only a small number of libraries loan dissertations and theses. Use a book request form for dissertations. You may purchase unbound copies of some dissertations from U.M.I., a private vendor. 

May I request Articles contained in Books?

Yes! We will be happy to request these, just place a request for the book containing the article.

Where can I find abbreviations?

We ask you to not abbreviate anything in the title since it severely delays your request. Check the index or abstract you consulted to find your citation. Often at the front of these there is a list of the journal abbreviations. Another source for the full title, and probably the most complete, is entitled Periodical Title Abbreviations and it is located at the Reference Desk.

May I request something that Occidental College Library owns ?

• Books: We will not request any book available at Occidental College Library. If a book is "CHECKED OUT", try locating it on LINK+   If a book is "LOST" or "MISSING" or "ON SEARCH," we can request it through Interlibrary Loan.  To request Missing Books, use this form. Please put a note in the "Other Information" box indicating that it is Lost or Missing at OXY.
  
• Articles: We will request articles from periodicals we own if the particular issue is "AT BIND" or declared "MISSING" by the Periodicals Department. For missing articles,

Check OASys to see if you can access the journal electronically. 

If it is not available electronically, use this form. Please put a note in the "Other Information" box indicating that it is Lost or Missing at OXY.