USING YOUR LIBRARY
Interlibrary Loan Rules for Cardholders
Our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Office extends library service beyond local boundaries by borrowing materials from other libraries for our cardholders. We also loan material from our own collection to other libraries around the state and the country. See Our Interlibrary Loan Rules for Other Libraries.
Placing Requests
Requests may be placed with a reference librarian at Central Library by phone or in person. If you are unsure which reference area you need to contact to place a request, call our Central Library Information Desk (275-4100) to be re-directed. Registered borrowers may have three active interlibrary loan requests at one time, including items checked out and in process.
You also may submit Interlibrary Loan requests through Your Library Account on our web site.
Pick-up Points
Borrowers may pick up Interlibrary Loan materials at any of our library locations. We are unable to deliver ILL material through our bookmobile or Outreach locations or schools.
Who May Borrow
Qualified cardholders include all who have a resident (Marion County) card or a Non-resident (paid) card. Cards must be free of overdue fines and delinquencies. PLAC cardholders are referred to their home library to place their requests.
Time Required
Typically it takes 10 days to 2 weeks to receive materials from other libraries.
Loan Period
The length of the loan is set by the lending library, not ourselves, and will vary accordingly. The due date is noted on each item.
Renewals
Renewals are not standard procedure in Interlibrary Loan, but may be possible. Borrowers must contact us before the due date and we then contact the lending library for a renewal date. When we hear back from the lending library we will inform the borrower if the loan was extended.
Costs
Many libraries charge fees to lend to patrons of other libraries, and we pass those fees along to our users. We are unable to say what the fee may be when a request is taken so we ask to have a maximum cost the requestor is willing to pay. We always obtain materials at no cost if possible, but some are unavailable without a fee.
Materials Not Available Through Interlibrary Loan
Some types of materials are not generally loaned between libraries. Examples include: AV materials (audio- or videotapes); books classified as reference use only; issues of magazines or newspapers; rare or valuable books; and most genealogy sources. In addition, we do not request from other libraries books which we own or have on order.
Photocopies
Because magazines, journals and newspapers are not loaned on ILL, photocopies of articles are commonly provided instead. All requests for photocopies must include approval of some cost to the requestor since libraries will not send photocopies free. Our own charge for copies we make for other libraries is $1.00 per page, for example.
Lost Items
Our library is responsible for the safety of materials borrowed from other libraries and our privilege of borrowing from them is jeopardized if anything is lost. We may suspend Interlibrary Loan borrowing privileges of any patron who does not return the ILL materials we have obtained for them.
Submitting Requests for InterLibrary Loans Online
This service is only available to IMCPL cardholders. Log into My Account using your barcode and PIN to request material through InterLibrary Loan.
Interlibrary Loan Rules for Other Libraries
The Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library observes the provisions of the National Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States for transactions outside the state of Indiana as well as current regional agreements and protocols within the state. Our Interlibrary Loan Rules for Other Libraries are available on our web site.
Contacts
If you have questions about Interlibrary Loans, you can call us at 275-4242 or email us at ill@imcpl.org.
