At some point you may find you need a book or article that the library does not own. The good news is that the library routinely borrows materials from libraries around the country for ISU students, faculty, and researchers. The better news is that interlibrary loan is a free service!
The link to Interlibrary Loan is: https://www.lib.iastate.edu/find-borrow-request/request-items/items-another-library-interlibrary-loan. Once you are on that page, click the "Request Interlibrary Loan/ Document Delivery" button to begin your request. You will be prompted to login with your net-ID and password. If you haven't used the ILL system before, you will be asked for contact information so we know how to contact you and where to send books you might request.
Here's is how to request materials through Interlibrary Loan:
To start, login in to Illiad, the library's interlibrary loan system. You'll choose the type of request you want from the "New Request" list.
After you've selected the kind of request you want, you get a form that will ask for information about the item you want. Make sure that you will in all the required fields.
Book requests: If you are requesting a book that is owned by the ISU Library, say that he items is owned by the ISU Library and include the call number in the "Notes" field, e.g. "Book is owned by ISU, call number PS535 P317g."
Article Requests: Fill in information about the article you want. The more information you can provide, the better. Providing an ISSN (the unique number identifying a journal) will speed your request. You can find a journal's ISSN by searching Google for "[name of journal] ISSN".
After you've submitted your interlibrary loan request, the waiting begins. The good news is that the wait is not very long, generally 1-2 days for articles and 3-5 days for book requests.
If you have requested an article, you will get an email saying that your article is available. To retrieve it, you will login to Illiad and retrieve the article.
If you have requested a book, the book will be sent to the address you provided when you registered with Illiad. If you live 25 or more miles from ISU there is no charge for delivery. If you live closer than 25 miles form ISU, there is a $5 charge to send your book. You are responsible for return postage to the ISU Library.
More detailed information about policies for ISU card holders is available here.