If the University of Iowa Libraries do not have a book you’re looking for, or if it’s checked out, you can request the item and we’ll bring it to Iowa City for you for free! Here’s a quick walkthrough of the InterLibrary Loan (ILL) process:

1. Find the book you’re looking for. If the book you’re looking for is at one of our libraries, this is very simple. Just find it in our catalog log in, and click “Request Physical Item” or “Request PDF of a Single Chapter,” depending on your needs. For book chapter requests please note that all scan requests must be under 50 pages. If the item you’re looking for is on the shelf, simply use the drop down menu to choose the library where you want to pick up the book and we’ll get to work! You will get an email when it’s ready to be picked up. If the item is checked out, you’ll have the option to “Request this book through InterLibrary Loan.” See the next step for more information. 

2. If the book you’re looking for isn’t available through the University Libraries, you can request it through ILL. There are two main ways to get to the ILL form: The first one is through clicking the “Request this book by InterLibrary Loan” or “Request PDF of a Single Chapter” links on a book’s record. In the picture above they will be where the red box is. You can also find the form from any of our Libraries’ home pages, just hover over the “Services” tab and find “Borrowing From Another Library & Document Delivery.” Then click “Log In to Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery” to create a request.

3. You’re ready to create an ILL request. If you’ve arrived at the ILL form from an InfoHawk+ record, good news – much of the information has already been filled out for you! Scroll through and enter all of the required information, click submit, and you’ll be on your way. If you’re looking for a book that’s not in the University of Iowa Libraries catalog, hover over the “New Requests” tab, select the appropriate category, and fill out all of the required information. There’s no such thing as too much information when looking for a book, so be specific. This will help the librarians to find the right item for you. 

4. Now just sit back and wait. We work as quickly as possible to your items, but we can’t guarantee delivery times for anything (we are human!).You will get an email in your inbox as soon as your item is scanned at its pickup destination. You can also check on the status of your items under the History tab in the ILL system. 

When navigating to the ILL page you might have seen something called UBorrow. This is an ILL system exclusive to the Big Ten Academic Alliance that works much like our other ILL system. For information and video tutorials to use UBorrow, check out the LibGuide.