Student Worker Guide

InterLibrary Loan

InterLibrary Loan (ILL) is a service that allows participating libraries to borrow and lend materials among each other. This provides patrons with access to materials their library does not have in their own collection. It is important to note that ILL does not guarantee that the patron will get the material they requested because there are copyright restrictions and limited availability. As a student employee, you will check the ILL queue and process requests for materials made by Harrisburg University students and staff.

Page Contents:

• Referring to ILL
• ILL Policies
• Fulfilling ILL Borrowing Requests

Referring to ILL

If you are assisting a patron with finding an item and it is neither open access nor in our collection, you should refer them to our ILL form. This form can be accessed through the patron's Tipasa (ILL) account, the HU ILL Guide, and the links added to various databases in our collection. Examples: 

The ILL Guide also includes directions for requesting a material and an overview of HU's ILL policies.

If a patron has a question about ILL that you cannot answer using these resources, refer them either to a staff member or the question form on the Get Help page.  

ILL Polices

We lend and borrow articles, book chapters, reports, and other relatively short, electronic items that can be transmitted as pdf files.

We cannot lend or borrow films and/or other multimedia resources, textbooks, print books, dissertations, or complete copies of e-books through interlibrary loan services. While we can request book chapters, these are usually limited to one or two chapters per book to prevent copyright violations.

Some requested items may not be available through ILL services, even if they are of a type generally allowed. 

Fulfilling ILL Borrowing Requests

At the beginning of very work shift, log on to WorldShare ILL and complete any of the following that pop up in the queue. 

• Approve new patrons
  • Check that the patron is a student, staff member, or faculty member [HOW]
  • Edit patron status and alert patron that their account has been approved
• Respond to borrowing requests
  • Search available inventory and fill in needed information [HOW}
    • The OCLC number is necessary to add records to the lender string
  • Add lenders and refill lenders to the lender string for new and unfilled requests
  • Mark request as fair use and start item records
    • Copyright bar will prompt you
    • Articles over 5 years old do not need item records
  • Enter default address and IFM amount
    • The IFM amount is always zero
    • The address, need by date, and IFM amounts are all automated and are entered with the click of a button.
  • Submit request to lenders 
  • Mark requests as received  
    • Alert the patron
  • Alert patrons at routine points in the ILL process. 
    • Acknowledge the request was received
    • Item available or unavailable
    • Patron account approved
  • Reject requests that go against HU policy and alert patron that their request has been canceled 
• Alert full time staff to issues
  • Please ask if you run into a request that you don't know how to fill. 
• Alert full time staff to lending requests

Useful Tools: