Interlibrary Loan activities are governed by Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act. For more information about Fair Use and Copyright please see the Copyright Quick Guide produced by Columbia University’s Copyright Advisory Office.
- All eligible Butler users (current students, faculty and staff) will be configured in our library system to make an interlibrary loan request
- Most classes of university affiliates (and alumni) are not eligible for interlibrary loan requesting privileges
- All articles are delivered electronically; physical items will be available at the requested pickup location.
- File ILL article requests directly from an online database (EBSCO, JSTOR, etc.) whenever possible. This limits mistakes made in entering information into the request as the Find Full Text button will pass citation data directly onto the ILL request form
- Check the online catalog (refine by format if necessary) or Journals A-Z before filing a request—if we have access to an item already, you don’t need to wait on ILL
- Articles found in journal volumes owned by Butler can be requested as an interlibrary loan; staff will scan and send a PDF (self-service is of course always an option)
- Please be discriminating when it comes to requesting items through ILL. Even though Butler users are not charged for the interlibrary loan service, there are still costs to the library. When someone orders materials and never picks them up, it pulls staff away from processing other requests quickly, and costs the library for each transaction.
- Please remember public libraries may not lend certain materials to us (CDs and DVDs specifically). If you are a Butler student, or live in Marion County, please use the Indianapolis Public Library yourself instead of asking Butler University Libraries to borrow from them via ILL—you’ll be able to borrow as an individual registered user in a way Butler sometimes can’t as an ILL partner.
- Most journal articles usually arrive within 2-4 days (although sometimes the same day, if we’re lucky), depending on the lending library. Loans of books or other physical materials can take up to 14 days to arrive—this is out of our control, and is based on how diligent the lending library is, how far away they are, and the shipping method used.
- To request a renewal, login to your library account and view your Checkouts. You may also request a renewal by email at ill@butler.edu
- Not all ILL materials are renewable; the decision is at the discretion of the lending library