Any current faculty, staff or student can use Interlibrary Loan Services. Retired WKU faculty and staff are also authorized to use ILL.

Most journal articles will be available within two working days. Items that must be requested from another library will take longer. This includes book chapters/sections.

Physical items may take as long as 4 weeks. ILL items may be requested from in-state libraries, with a return time of 3-5 days, or from other libraries in the country, with a return time of 2-4 weeks.

All copy requests will be delivered electronically via email. For security purposes, all ILL correspondence must be restricted to official WKU email accounts only.

All books will be available at the Circulation desk, Cravens 4th floor. Any items not picked up will be returned on their due date.

Current WKU faculty and staff may have ILL books delivered through campus mail. Please notify the ILL office of that request.

Due dates for ILL items are set by the lending library. Renewals can be requested through the patron ILL account and are granted at the discretion of the lending library. An item which is ineligible for renewal will be marked as such on the book band.

ILL requests can be made for many things. The most common are: Loan requests for books, music scores and DVD’s and copy requests for journal articles and book chapters. This is not a complete list of items that can be requested through ILL.

Due to the high demand, we do not allow ILL requests for textbooks currently being used at WKU.

Most publishers do not allow e-books to circulate. Requests for e-books will be sent once, then changed to a physical edition.

Libraries do not usually lend entire journals. All borrowing requests are at the discretion of the lending library.

Due to the high demand and budgetary restraints, we must limit ILL requests to 5 per patron, per day, for a maximum of 25 per week.

All costs for ILL requests are paid by WKU Libraries. Patrons will only be charged for lost/damaged items.

Copyright law allows the reproduction of one chapter of a published work, or a maximum of 10% of an item that does not contain chapters for personal, academic use, also known as the “Fair Use Act.”

WKU Libraries follows the ALA ILL Code for the United States as well as the Copyright Law of the United States. We reserve the right to refuse any request that would violate either of these:

https://www.ala.org/rusa/guidelines/interlibrary

https://www.copyright.gov/title17/

The lending library determines the due date of all items. All ILL physical items will have a due date written on the book strap attached to the item. Patrons are responsible for returning the item to the Cravens Library by the due date

Items can be returned to the Circulation desk, Cravens 4th floor, placed in the book drop, or sent through campus mail (Faculty/Staff only). Patron assumes all responsibility for all ILL items, including lost/damaged items until the item is returned to WKU library.

Renewals for ILL items can be requested through the patron ILL account, or by contacting the ILL office. Renewals are granted at the discretion of the lending library. The lending library has the right to recall any item at any time. If this happens, the patron will be notified by email and given a time in which to return the item. Failure to return the item within that time can result in fines or loss of access to library services.

The patron will receive an email notification when an ILL item is approximately 3 days overdue. Failure to return an ILL item within 30 days of the due date will result in the item being declared lost.

Lost ILL items will affect the patron in the following ways: Fee for the cost of the lost item, plus any processing fees (assessed by the lending library), loss of access to library services, included but not limited to – inability to check out books, access study rooms, or use ILL services - until the matter is resolved. Depending on the cost of the material lost, a Banner hold may be placed on the patron’s account.

Patrons who suffer loss of access to library services will still be allowed to enter the library and use items within the building.

The ILL office can ship physical items from the WKU Library to WKU students within the United States via US Postal Service. Items will be sent to the student’s mailing address on file in TopNet unless otherwise requested.

This service is restricted to items in the WKU collection ONLY and does not include items with a shortened due date such as DVD’s, CD’s, non-circulating items, High Use or Reserve items. Requests should be made on the ILL page, with a message in the “Notes” section of the request.

Students receiving items in this manner assume all responsibility and costs associated with returning items as well as any late fees/lost item fees.

Electronic copies will be emailed to the WKU email address on file.

Distance Learning students cannot request items from other libraries through ILL. These students are encouraged to contact their local public library’s ILL department.