Interlibrary Loan: Accessing Materials Outside of Oxy's Collection

When you come across a resource that we don’t own or is currently unavailable, you can borrow it from other libraries through Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

Eligible Users: 

• Current Oxy Students, Faculty and Staff

Eligible Materials:

• Can be Borrowed: Physical Books, Book Chapters, Articles, DVDs, Musical Scores

• Hard to Borrow Materials: Ebooks, Exhibition Catalogs, Dissertations, Theses, Microform, Recently Published or Ahead of Print Materials

• Cannot be Borrowed: Streaming Content, Textbooks, Entire Journal Issues

Our primary resource sharing platform is embedded in the OneSearch function of our library catalog.  The loan and renewal periods for interlibrary loaned items are determined by the lender. You will get a notice with your ILL item detailing the loan period information for that title.

Accessing ILL:

• Make sure you are signed in with your Oxy credentials. The ILL options will not show up until you have signed in.

• Search for Articles, Books, and more in OneSearch

• Select “Expand Your Search” to look for materials outside our library holdings

• ILL offers will appear in the “Get it from other locations” section of the item record. 

• When the catalog locates the item at one of our partner institutions, it will display an estimated time to arrival and loan period duration. If it cannot immediately locate the resource, it will display “terms to be supplied.” 

• Select the desired format and add any important details, such as volume or chapter information, to your request. Click “Send” to place your request

If you are unable to locate the item you want to borrow through OneSearch, use the Blank ILL form to submit your request.

The Blank ILL form can be used when you are unable to find a resource using the "Expand My Search" function or if you simply prefer to enter the details yourself. 

Accessing the Blank ILL form:

• Access the Blank ILL form through OneSearch using the "Interlibrary Loan Request" tab or the "Still didn't find what you need?" link. 

You can also bookmark the Blank ILL Form

Pro Tip!

When using the Blank ILL form, include the ISBN or ISSN if possible. Requests without this information may take longer to arrive.

If the item is not showing up in the Oxy catalog, try searching WorldCat which connects thousands of libraries' collections.