How to Request an Item via Interlibrary Loan
Channel: Amelia Gayle Gorgas
Date: 2016-12-14

This video demonstrates how to use our Interlibrary Loan service when you need a book that is not in our collection, or an article from a journal we don't subscribe to.

TRANSCRIPT: 
Hi. My name is Jon, I'm a librarian at The University of Alabama, and today I'm going to talk about making an interlibrary loan request. 

If the book or article you need is not available at University Libraries, you can use our Interlibrary Loan service, or ILL, to request a copy from another library.

So, I've just read an article about a book and I want to read it, but our library doesn't have it. So I'm going to submit an interlibrary loan request for it. 

You can submit a request from the University Libraries website by selecting Interlibrary Loan from the main page. From there, you'll be taken to a login page. Log in with your MyBama username and password.

If it's your first time requesting an ILL, you'll need to enter your contact information into your ILL account.

After you've set up your account, you can submit new requests, track outstanding requests, request a renewal, and change your user information.

When you want to make a request, choose what type of item you're requesting. 

For articles, either print or electronic, select "Copy." 

To request a book or other item, select "Loan."

You should provide as much information as possible about the item in the request form.

Information about items can be found on retail sites like Amazon, a libraries database like WorldCat, or in the references section of an article or book.

When you've completed the form, select "submit request."

For "copy" requests, your items will be emailed to you directly. 

For "loan" requests, you'll be notified when the items you've requested are received and can be picked up at the circulation desk. 

You can check on the status of your outstanding requests from the main ILL page.

Finally, if you have any questions about Interlibrary Loan, or if you need help placing a request, you can contact the ILL Dept. at 205 348-4018, or illstaff@ua.edu, or visit ask.lib.ua.edu to Ask-A-Librarian