Interlibrary Loan At A Library Near You

Interlibrary loan (ILL) is a cooperative borrowing system. Libraries use it to obtain items for their patrons from other libraries. Empire State College currently operates an interlibrary loan program for its graduate students, staff, and faculty with a 50% or greater appointment.

Undergraduate students may be able to use interlibrary loan at their local public library:

• Call to find out if your public library offers interlibrary loan service. Some libraries charge per item requested; others provide the service free of charge.
• To locate a public library in your area: library systems can be found throughout the 50 states.

• The SUNY Open Access Policy allows Empire State College students, faculty and staff to access to State University of New York two- and four-year college libraries as well as the New York community college libraries. By showing your Empire State College photo ID card, you may use the library facilities at other SUNY university, college and community college libraries. Keep in mind that library privileges do vary from campus to campus. While most SUNY libraries will allow Empire State College students to borrow books, you will need to check with the reference librarian to determine if you may submit an interlibrary loan request to borrow a book from another library. (Note, a similar agreement is in place with the CUNY libraries in New York City.)

• If you are not close to a SUNY library, locate an academic library nearby and determine what services are available to residents of the local community. You may also want to consider a membership subscription. Most institutions offer an annual membership for a reasonable fee. In addition to borrowing privileges, you may be eligible for interlibrary loan services.

• To obtain photocopies of journal articles or a book chapter, you may want to investigate a commercial document delivery service that will obtain copies for a fee.