Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

What is Interlibrary loan?

Interlibrary loan is an important piece to accessing information that is not in the WMU Libraries Collection. It is a service we offer to find books and articles from other libraries.

• From the Library home page, go to Interlibrary Loan
• The first time you access this system you will be asked to verify your information. This is so different university systems can talk to each other (like email so we can send you notifications,  etc...) 
• The menu on the top bar is how you can manage your account. Go to New Requests and select the type of item you are requesting.
• To place a request, either manually enter the information you want to request in this platform or many platforms will import citation information in.

Is it free?

The Interlibrary Loan service is usually free. Occasionally, the Libraries cannot obtain a copy of an article for free from another library but may be able to purchase a copy directly from the publisher. Alternately, we may need to obtain the article from a library that charges for the copy.

In these cases, the Libraries can only pickup the first $15 of the charge and you would need to pay the difference. You will always be notified if this is the case, and asked to approve the charge in advance.

How will I receive my Interlibrary loan?

The Library will try to obtain a PDF copy of the article for you within 5 business days. You will receive an email with a link to the PDF for download. If you are requesting a book, please allow 10-12 business days.

When your article or book are available for you, you will receive an email with either a link to the article PDF for download or information on where to pick up your book. Physical materials (books) are usually picked up in Waldo Library. If you are working or studying remotely,you can use the "Notes" field when you make the request to have physical materials mailed to your home address.

What if there is a problem with my request?

If there is an error with your request (ex. missing pages, blurry images, wrong edition of book sent), you can resubmit any requests through Interlibrary Loan the same way you did the first. Click on the “History” link in the main ILL menu, and then to "All requests" to find your original request. When you find it, simply click the brown "Actions" link (in screenshot below). Then, click the brown “Resubmit Request" link.

Make sure to explain in the “Notes” field of your resubmitted request what the problem was.

Can I renew items from Interlibrary Loan?

You can request a renewal but they are approved at the discretion of the lending library.  Because of this, it is recommended that renewals are requested close to the due date in order to maximize the amount of time granted. Books from MeLCat can only be renewed 1 time, and MeLCat a/v materials cannot be renewed.

When you place a renewal request, it may take a few days for it to be approved or denied by the lending library and then appear on your account. You will receive an email once we hear back from the lending library.

Other Questions

You can contact the Libraries Resource Sharing staff by phone at: 269-387-5172 or via email at lib-rsc@wmich.edu. Each request will have a Transaction Number that is on the Outstanding Request in the Main Menu. Please use this number in all emails or other correspondence about your request.