Interlibrary Loans Policy

Brown Library at Sterling College

Interlibrary loan is a formal agreement between libraries to share materials and provide photocopies to other libraries.  If research items cannot be located in the Sterling College Libraries, patrons may initiate an interlibrary loan request.

Borrowing from other libraries is a privilege. Patrons should be aware of the restrictions and conditions of interlibrary loan materials.

Interlibrary loans are affected by COPYRIGHT LAWS and lending libraries’ policies.

Borrowers

All Sterling College Community members – students, alumni, faculty, staff, administration – may borrow materials through the interlibrary loan system.

Public borrowers will not receive interlibrary loan services through Sterling College.

They are encouraged to contact their local public libraries.

Borrowing Procedure

For books, periodical articles, and audio-visual materials that are not available in our collection, a borrower may fill out an interlibrary loan request form, one form per request.  Forms are located on the bulletin board behind the front desk.

If a borrower has a print-out of citations, she/he may “cut and paste” them to the forms.

A borrower may also submit an ILL request electronically via the library home page.

It is the patron's responsibility to provide all information necessary to locate the material. Incomplete requests or requests for items already in our collection will be returned to the requestor.

Timeline

If available at a Vermont library, books and journal articles generally arrive within a week.  Items that need to be requested from out-of-state may take 2 to 3 weeks or longer to arrive.

The time needed to obtain any interlibrary loan item depends upon the difficulty of the request, the location and policy of the lending library, and the amount of requests to be processed.

Notification

When the interlibrary loan arrives, patrons will be notified with a note in the mailbox, a phone call, or an email.

Loan Period

Periodical articles are given to the user and do not need to be returned.

The time allowed for the loan of all other items is usually 2-4 weeks, depending on the policy of the lending library. The due date of the item is indicated on the band attached to the book cover.  Renewals are entirely dependent upon the policies of the lending library.

Lending libraries determine any conditions regarding the use of their materials. Loans designated for "In Library Use Only" must be returned to the circulation desk when not in use in the library.

Returning Interlibrary Loans

All materials borrowed through interlibrary loan must be returned to our library's circulation desk by the due date. Please leave the book band attached.

Late return, loss, or the poor care of materials jeopardizes the ability of the library to borrow from other libraries in the future.

Charges

Sterling College does not currently charge for the cost of interlibrary loan services.  A charge may be applied if there are no free locations for the book or periodical article and the patron is willing to pay the cost set by the lending library.

Charges for interlibrary loans that are not returned will be determined by the lending libraries according to their policies regarding lost, damaged, and overdue materials.

Interlibrary Loans to Requesting Libraries

Sterling College will lend circulating items (books and audio-visuals) and send photocopies of periodical articles to requesting libraries.  The loan period will be 30 days for books and 7 days for audio-visual materials.  Renewals are allowed upon request.

Items that do not circulate will not be loaned to other libraries.  This includes books from the Reference Collection, items on the course reserve shelves, entire issues of periodicals, Senior Applied Research Projects, and books from CNS Special Collection.

Sterling College does not currently charge for interlibrary loan services to other libraries.

Adopted by the Library Committee:  11/7/2006