ILL Workflows & Procedures: Start Here

All staff have access to the WMS Procedures Manual via the url, which has an ILL tab that explains a few of the basics to staff and how it affects their workflows. 

The ILL librarians maintain this tab and update it, alerting staff if major changes are made or in need of review. All new hires to the library should be given a link to the WMS Procedures guide (usually done as part of their onboarding).

Both Borrowing and Lending deal with the following. See respective tabs for definitions for Borrowing and Lending.

• Returnables - what we call Loan requests. These are physical items that we Borrow our Lend and they go back to their supplier. We do not keep them.
• Non-Returnables - What we call Copy requests. These are usually digital items or copied material sent via snail mail that do not need to be returned. A copyright assessment has been made before the copy is created. Copy requests happen in both Borrowing and Lending situations. 
• Open Access - See this FAQ. 
• Document Delivery - See this FAQ. 

This Interlibrary Loan link can be found on the library homepage. The position of the link may move as the links change on the homepage, but it is the general information patrons can find on ILL. It is a private guide link, which the interlibrary loan librarians maintain. 

Official library policy, which can be found under "Mission & Guidelines" on the homepage, lists policy specific to interlibrary loan as well. 

The "Chat & FAQ" link has interlibrary loan FAQ patrons and staff can search for that lists specific how-tos and detailed information about specific ILL scenarios. ILL has its own Topic in the Library knowledge bank. Any CTL or librarian can create an FAQ, even one about ILL, but the ILL staff may want to review these periodically. The LibAnswers admin oversees an annual cleanup of FAQ in the summers. 

This guide pulls from SharePoint information and documentation stored in the Access Services folder. You can get to SharePoint through your web-based email and selecting from the waffle of apps in the left hand corner. If you have questions about SharePoint, please contact the Records and Knowledge Management Librarian. 

All official documentation and archived information should be stored on SharePoint, though patron privacy should be protected. ILL information that should be stored includes, but is not limited to: 

• invoices sent to borrowing libraries
• reports on statistics 
• documentation and how-to tutorials 

The structure of the Access Services folder includes an Interlibrary Loan folder and a Copyright (non-ILL) folder. In all cases, the title of the files in SharePoint were retained on this guide instead of renamed to keep context. Archive sub-folders were implemented in December 2025 to house pre-compliance deadline materials that met the ADA summary of exceptions for files. The compliance deadline was April 2026. 

There may be information that overlaps in other SharePoint folders due to Bench Strength planning. Refer to this document to learn more in the Bench Strength Folder in Technical Services under LibraryKnowledgeManagement on SharePoint.