WMS Procedures Manual: Placing an ILL Request

DO NOT PLACE AN ILL REQUEST FOR A PATRON UNDER YOUR ACCOUNT. This can lead to errors, notifications going to the wrong person, etc. A patron must place an ILL request on their own account. Meaning, you should walk them through the steps on how to do it on their own. 

See this FAQ on how to place an ILL request. 

It's important you are able to help answer basic ILL questions from patrons. This means you should know how to place an ILL request and some of the aspects of ILL as well. See the next box below this one on how best to place an ILL request. Note that as a staff member you are able to place ILL request absolutely free too!

If patrons have questions, it is good for you to direct them to these places: 

1) The Interlibrary Loan Link on the Library Homepage is our public-facing information page. You can send this as a link over chat, email, or point it out when helping a patron in-person:

2) The library FAQ has a lot of answers to questions about ILL. Link to these answers in virtual reference and/or direct patrons to the FAQ. How to renew, how to place copy request for only a chapter of book, why requests are cancelled, and more are answered there! 

3) Familiarize yourself with our Library Policy. The Policy is the basis for many ILL decisions and ILL is mentioned there. Find the Policy off the library homepage link for "Mission & Guidelines." 

4) Direct your questions to the ILL Librarian, Amanda Ross, or direct patrons to speak directly with her via chat, email, phone, or in-person. Marianne Myers is Amanda's backup in ILL if she is out, if she cannot be reached, or if there is an emergency. Lisa Haldeman, the NEC Library director, is tertiary backup if they are out. 

5) If a patron is saying they recieved a pickup notification for an ILL item or a notification that their copy (scan) request is available for download but their ILL isn't on the hold shelf or they aren't able to access, ask them to pull up the email that told them so. Often times, patrons confuse confirmation emails with pickup emails or they did not read an entire email on how to access something. Before getting any ILL librarian invovlved, be sure the patron didn't misunderstand an email first. Sometimes it is as simple as showing them the correct link in an email, or pointing out they chose a different pickup location than they intended (we can have the material routed, at that point - just let an ILL librarian know).