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Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

About ILL

Interlibrary Loan is the service that lets you borrow books from out-of-state libraries. 

Who can use ILL? 
  • Current OWU students
  • OWU faculty and those with faculty-retired status.
  • OWU staff
What can you borrow? 
  • Books
  • Book chapters
  • Articles
  • Some audio and video material
What can you not borrow? 
  • Textbooks
  • Newly published books
  • Rare or fragile items
  • Whole issues of magazines or journals
  • Entire ebooks
How are ebooks different? 
  • Sometimes an institution can loan out an ebook chapter. It depends on the publisher licenses and lending library policies. 
  • Due to typical licensing limitations, you cannot request whole ebooks. If you wish to have access to an ebook, fill out the resource request form and the library will see if it's available to purchase for OWU use.
How long does it take for items to arrive? 
  • 2-4 days for articles and book chapters
  • 1-2 weeks for books
  • Special items may take longer
How much does it cost? 

The service itself is free, but you may be charged fees for the following: 

  • Overdue items
  • Lost items
  • Failure to pickup items
  • High copyright fees