The UALR Bowen School of Law Library’s Interlibrary Loan Services are administered by the Information Services Specialist, who is a member of the professional staff within the Circulation Department.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a resource sharing practice connecting libraries and information centers across the country. ILL functions through formal agreements among libraries to share materials with, or provide copies to, other libraries for educational or research purposes. Resource sharing makes materials available to library patrons which are not owned by the borrower’s library. If patrons cannot access the materials they need within our library, either because the library does not own the title or it is simply unavailable at that time, an Interlibrary Loan request may be initiated by inquiring with the Information Services Specialist directly, or by submitting an online Interlibrary Loan Request form.
Availability to Patrons
Interlibrary Loan Services are available to all UALR Bowen School of Law faculty, students, and staff, as well as local attorneys, provided they have a current library card. Students enrolled at other universities should be referred to their institution’s library. General public patrons should be referred to their public library for assistance.
Borrowing/Lending Arrangements
To facilitate efficient resource sharing, the UALR Bowen School of Law Library utilizes WorldCat’s OCLC online services to send and receive the majority of our ILL requests. Access to OCLC resource sharing services expands the reach of libraries by enabling libraries to borrow and lend library materials through OCLC’s electronic network of libraries. Also, OCLC-affiliated state and regional networks contract to provide support, training, and OCLC services to OCLC participating libraries. In addition to OCLC, consortial agreements between libraries with similar resource sharing needs facilitate more efficient lending. The UALR Bowen School of Law Library belongs to the following resource sharing groups: MALLCO (Mid-America Law Library Consortium), BCR (Bibliographical Center for Research), AMIGOS, LVIS (Libraries Very Interested in Sharing), and also maintains reciprocal lending agreements with nearly every other Arkansas library. Libraries belonging to these groups agree to loan material and provide copies at no charge to the borrowing library. Beyond these associations and agreements, the library also handles some ILL requests offline with other Arkansas libraries, both as a borrower and lender.
Verification and Locating Lenders
All patron requests must be verified by the Information Services Specialist before requesting from potential lending libraries. To help expedite the request process, and to assist lending libraries to quickly locate the materials sought, patrons are asked to provide enough citation information about the desired item to help identify the source and differentiate it from other like titles or specific editions of the same title. Basic information such as title, author, publication date, edition or volume number should be included if possible. OCLC’s FirstSearch database, accessible through the library’s
website, not only provides detailed bibliographic records of materials, but also provides a list of potential lending libraries. Since the library uses OCLC automated software to transmit requests electronically, patrons should access the FirstSearch database when looking for materials from other libraries.
Turnaround Time for Requests
Requests are processed within 24 hours of receiving them. Multiple requests are handled steadily to ensure equal processing time for all requests from all patrons. Patrons that submit multiple requests at the same time will be informed of any possible delays because of the extra time involved to process their requests. The average turnaround time to receive material from a lending library varies depending on the format of the material sought (book, journal article, etc.), how long the lending library takes to process the request, and the physical distance between the lending library and borrowing library when sending by standard mail. Generally, requests are filled within two to ten business days. Rare or obscure items may take longer, either because few libraries own the desired item or the materials are non-circulating. In this case, the requesting patron will be notified about the status of their request.
For time-sensitive requests, patrons may place a RUSH REQUEST, which will be given higher priority and sent via expedited mail delivery services, if possible. However, such requests are still subject to the lending library concerns mentioned above.
Notification and Delivery
Patrons will be contacted via e-mail (or by phone, if preferred) when requested items arrive or if there are any issues that arise during the transaction. Once a requested item has arrived, it will be checked-out to the patron and placed on the ILL Hold Shelf located behind the Circulation Desk. The Information Services Specialist handles all checking-in and checking-out of ILL materials, so patrons simply need to come to the Circulation Desk and inform the staff member they wish to either pick up or return their items.
Due Dates/Renewals
Loan periods are set by the lending library and generally range from two to four weeks. Because these items are borrowed from other libraries, it is important that our patrons comply with instructions provided on the front of borrowed books, most notably the due date. Materials kept past the due date may jeopardize our borrowing privileges with other libraries, so it is imperative that due dates are honored. Therefore, please request renewals at least one week in advance of the due date so that the library can make arrangements with the lending library. Whether a renewal is granted is at the discretion of the lending library.
Applicable Fees
The library absorbs any fees incurred on behalf of UALR Bowen School of Law faculty, students, or staff to obtain materials via interlibrary loan for academic purposes. However, our local attorney patrons must reimburse the library for these expenses. The library also must be reimbursed for costs incurred on behalf of law school faculty, students and staff utilizing interlibrary loan for non-academic purposes. Patrons will be informed about such charges before materials are to be picked up.
Subject to Copyright
The Copyright Law of the United States governs the making of photocopies or other reproduction or distribution of copyrighted materials. See 17 U.S.C. § 101 et seq. (2009). The UALR Bowen School of Law Library abides by these rules and patrons must accept and understand this statement before requesting any copyrighted material.