Being a part of Indiana University enables free access to a dazzling array of academic resources. However, even the largest institution doesn’t have everything, and eventually any scholar will find a citation for a vital resource to which they do not have access. Perhaps a book, or an article, or even a DVD. Whatever it is, you know it would make your research deeper and better. But it can only be found through a paywall
Fortunately, the library can help you get those hard-to-acquire resources. For books that any IU library owns, you can get them transferred from another campus easily – from IUCAT, Indiana University’s catalog, you can request books be sent here from by clicking the red ‘Request Delivery’ button. And for articles you find the citation for in a library database, click ‘Find It’ or ‘LibKey Instant PDF’ which will help you connect to the full text of articles – or download the LibKey Nomad browser extension, which will even work when you are using non-library sites like Google Scholar, or PubMed, or Wikipedia.
Still, some things just aren’t available for free anywhere online. For that, we can seek it out from another library that owns it. This process is called interlibrary loan, and at IU, the system to make interlibrary loan requests is called ILLiad. All students, faculty, and staff can use ILLiad. If it is your first time, click ‘create an account’ and make up a username and password (you can use your IU email for this, but do not have to, if there’s another you prefer).
After you have an account, under ‘Create Request’, choose what you want to obtain – normally a book (or something else tangible that has to be returned, like a DVD) or an article (or something similar that does not have to be returned, like a book chapter or a dissertation). Put in as much information as you know about the item(s) in question – not all blanks have to be filled in – and click submit. There is no cost for using ILLiad. Our library will contact other libraries that do own what you need, and request that it be sent here for your use. Articles and other digitally-delivered items will typically come in within a few business days. Books and other materials that come through the mail will take longer – and there is currently a large-scale back-up and the Indianapolis hub of the United State Postal Office, so expect a two week minimum to get those. So, if you need books for your final paper or project, request them now! More detailed instructions for using ILLiad can be found here.
Most types of academic material are obtainable, but there are sometimes cases where the item can’t be acquired. Perhaps it’s a rare book, and not many libraries have it, or everyone who does has it in a non-circulating collection (genealogy books are particularly notorious for this). Interlibrary loan will typically not be able to obtain full issues of periodicals, as well as some CDs or DVDs. And whole ebooks are not available through interlibrary loan, although we can request chapters from them. More information about potential restrictions and copyright issues can be found here.
Don’t be intimidated by a paywall – it is not the end of the story, and most things not held by IU East can still be obtained for your use. If you need any assistance (in creating an account, managing your requests, finding the status of your requests, or even just help finding an article or book), please contact us at iueill@iu.edu. More information about the ILL system can also be found here.