Policies for MTSU Students, Faculty, Staff

Interlibrary Loan Policy Standards

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) provides enhanced access to and delivery of research and instructional materials. The purpose of interlibrary loan is to obtain materials not available in MTSU's libraries. The service is administered in accordance with the American Library Association National Interlibrary Loan Code (1993), International Lending: Principles and Guidelines for Procedures (1987), the US Copyright Revision Act of 1976 (17 US Code 101 et seq.), and in conformance with special consortial arrangements and reciprocal agreements entered into with individual libraries.

Who May Use the Service

ILL services are provided for MTSU faculty, staff, and students as well as retired administrators and faculty. An MTSU email address (@mtsu.edu or @mtmail.mtsu.edu) must be provided. Faculty who would like for graduate student assistants to submit ILL requests and pick up borrowed ILL material on their behalf must complete a proxy permission form, available at the Circulation Desk or online. Items received through Interlibrary Loan cannot be placed in the Reserves collection for student use.

What May be Borrowed

The ILL Services Office will attempt to borrow or obtain materials which are not owned by the James E. Walker Library, materials that have been formally declared lost or missing, materials have been unsuccessfully recalled, or are at the bindery. Materials owned by the MTSU libraries that are currently checked out to another patron may be requested through ILL.

What Cannot be Borrowed

The ILL Services office will not attempt to borrow or obtain entire issues or volumes of periodicals, reference books or rare books, genealogical works, maps, textbooks, dissertations, or privately published reports. Although every attempt will be made to request audiovisual materials, many libraries do not lend these materials. Textbooks for MTSU classes cannot be borrowed through Interlibrary Loan.

Costs

Interlibrary Loan will always attempt to borrow or obtain an item for the least cost possible. If the item comes from a Tennessee library or any library with which we have entered into a reciprocal agreement, there will be no charge. In all other cases, there may be a lending or photocopying charge for which the requester is personally responsible. The lending/supplying library determines the amount of this charge. MTSU borrowers pay the first $5.00 of any charge and the library pays the balance. Payment is required upon receipt of material. Faculty may not charge payments to their department accounts. If you lose a borrowed item, you are responsible for all costs levied by the lending library. While every effort is made to fill a request as quickly as possible, the ILL Services Office cannot control the processing speed of a lending/supplying library nor the speed of the U.S. Postal Service. Therefore, should a requested item arrive after it is no longer needed, the requester is still responsible for any charges.

Renewals

Renewals on Interlibrary Loan are at the discretion of the lending library, not Walker Library. An item can usually be renewed as long as it is not marked NO RENEWAL and if the request is made only one or two days after the original due date. Walker Library has no control over the due date of the item and cannot specify a specific due date for an item.