6.50 INTERLIBRARY LOAN

Effective: Febraury 9, 1998

PURPOSE
To outline the policies and procedures that govern providing information and research materials not part of the regular collection to faculty, staff, and students.

AUTHORITY/SOURCE
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
American Library Association Interlibrary Loan Code
U.S. Copyright Law and Fair Use Guidelines

POLICY
Interlibrary Loan service provides a means of accessing materials which are not available in the FIU Libraries. The FIU Libraries are obligated to conform to the National Interlibrary Loan Code, the U.S. Copyright Law, and other restrictions imposed by lending libraries and document suppliers.

Interlibrary loan services are available to FIU faculty, staff and currently enrolled students.

Most materials available for circulation in the lending libraries are also available for interlibrary loan. However, there are some materials which may be difficult to borrow. These include: reference books, rare books and manuscripts, audiovisual resources, and music scores. Inexpensive items which may be easily purchased and materials for which there is likely to be a recurring demand are usually not available for borrowing.

Many libraries do not assess fees for the loan of materials. Also, most libraries do not lend periodicals but send photocopies of the articles requested for which there may be a charge. Depending upon the circumstances, these charges may be passed along to the borrower. The time involved in receiving materials is dependent upon the availability of the material, the location of the lending library, the accuracy of the citation and the method of shipment. Materials should be ordered as soon as the need is realized so that sufficient time is available for processing and shipping.

Lending libraries sometimes place restrictions on the use of materials (e.g., short-term loan, no renewal, in library use only, etc.). Failure to follow the restrictions may jeopardize the FIU Libraries' borrowing relationship with other libraries. Interlibrary Loan reserves the right to deny interlibrary loan service to patrons who fail to abide by the restrictions.

Materials owned by FIU Libraries are normally not requested from another library.

PROCEDURE
To place an interlibrary loan request, complete the Interlibrary Loan Request form. Use one form per item. Treat multiple articles from the same journal as separate requests.

Read and sign the notice on the form concerning copyright restrictions.
 
Depending upon the workload, multiple requests from the same person may be processed at the rate of five per day.

Requests may not be submitted by telephone.
 Forms used include:
Interlibrary Loan Request form
(available in print and electronically)

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