Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a privilege extended to Lamar University and Lamar Institute of Technology students, faculty, and staff whereby books and copies of articles not owned by the Mary and John Gray Library can be ordered from another library.

When should I request an ILL?

An ILL should be requested only after you have carefully determined that a book or journal issue is not owned by the library. If an item is listed in our library catalog but is not on the shelf, you may order it through ILL after a staff member has determined that it is missing (and not checked out or misplaced). Course textbooks cannot be borrowed through interlibrary loan.

How do I request an ILL?

Login to the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Service. First time users will be asked to change their password before using the system.

To request a book, you need the following information:

author's name
complete title of the book
publisher, year of publication, and edition (if available)

To request an article from a journal, newspaper or magazine, you need the following information:

author's name
complete title of the article
complete title of the journal (do not use abbreviations!)
volume and issue numbers
date of publication
page numbers for the article

How many items can I order?

There is no limit to the number of requests that you can order at one time. However, if you submit many requests at once, these will be ordered a few at a time to insure that each order receives full attention.

Is there a charge?

There is no charge for ILL.

How will I know when my material arrives?

In general, an interlibrary loan request arrives in a week to ten days. Patrons should login to Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Service to check the status of their request. Articles and other photocopies are delivered electronically through Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Service electronic delivery. Books and other loaned materials may be checked out at the Reserves desk on the 2nd floor with a valid Lamar ID.

How long may I keep ILL materials?

Articles and other photocopies are delivered electronically through Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Service electronic delivery and will be available online for 30 days. Please print your own copy.
Books and other loaned materials may be checked out at the Reserves desk on the 2nd floor of the library for as long as the lending library allows. The due date will be indicated on a slip on the book cover when you check it out. A valid Lamar ID is required.
Some materials may be restricted to in-library use only.

What happens if my request is unfilled?

Unfortunately, some materials may be unavailable through interlibrary loan. Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Service will notify you by email if a request is unfilled.

A request may be unfilled for several reasons, including:

Libraries cannot loan material that their own patrons currently have checked out.
Libraries often do not loan recently published materials in order to keep those materials available for their own patrons.
Libraries often do not loan materials that are rare, valuable or irreplaceable.
Libraries often do not loan materials that are particularly fragile, prone to damage, or require special handling and/or storage conditions.

For more information about Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Service please contact the Interlibrary Loan office Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. by calling (409) 880-8987 or email ill@lamar.edu. After hours please call the Reference desk at (409) 880-7264 (Toll Free 866-375-5565) or Ask a Librarian.