The catalog shows the current location of each item, but virtually all the materials are available for use at any campus through inter-campus loan, document delivery, and transfer. Any library user who needs a book or audiovisual housed at another campus may request the item on loan. The library staff enters the request in the VTLS system, and the book is delivered to the library by daily courier and held for the requestor at the desk. Users who need an article from another campus fill out a request form. The holding library copies the article and sends it via the Internet to the requesting library where it prints on the laser printer.
Librarians often transfer items from one library to another to meet individual student needs.
Instructors planning assignments may request specific items, categories, or subject coverage and the librarians will gather the items in advance of the assignment. Instructors teaching off-campus may request the same service, and the materials are checked out to the instructor for delivery to students. The Blinn College Library provides many periodicals, reference works, government documents and books electronically. These are accessed from icons on library workstations or from other sites via the library web page. Often the electronic resource is the only version of the specific periodical or document available at the Blinn library, so students will be citing these sources in papers.