Global Resource Systems Research Guide

Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery (ILL/DD)

You can get access to books and articles not owned by the University Library or order scans of items the library owns in print through ILL/DD.

Did you know?

• Articles and book chapters are delivered as downloadable PDFs and may arrive in as little as 2-hours.
• Books are shipped by mail and delivery times are in days, not hours. 
• If the ISU copy of a book is checked out you can order another copy through ILL

Skip to a section:

• How to Order Articles
• How to Order Books
• How to Order Book Chapters

How to Order Articles

Instructions for the two most common ways to order articles as well as tips for fast processing are below.

Using Quick Search:

1. Search for the article's title in Quick Search or use Quick Search's Fetch Item search to search by DOI or citation. 
2. Click the title of the article you want to order.
3. Scroll down to the "How to get it" section and click the Request article through InterLibrary Loan link. 
4. Sign into ILLiad, the Interlibrary Loan system, with your ISU Net-ID and password.
5. The request form should be automatically filled out for you. Review it to make sure it is accurate then click Submit Request. You'll receive an email when your article is ready.

Using ILLiad (Interlibrary Loan system)

1. Sign into ILLiad with your ISU Net-ID and password.
   • If this is your first time using ILL then you will need to complete your profile.
2. Click Article under the New Request menu.
3. Fill out the form with as much information as possible.
4. Review the form and click Submit Request. You'll receive an email when your article is ready.

Get your ILL article FAST!

• Include as much information as possible, especially if you think it may be hard to track down.
• Include the publishing journal's ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) in the request. You can usually locate a journal's ISSN on the journal's homepage.
• Include the article's DOI (Digital Object Identifier). DOI's all start with "10." and may be included in citations, on the publishing journal's website, and in databases.

How to Order Books

WorldCat is a huge database of books (and reports, and journals, and more) owned by libraries around the world. It connects to the ISU Library's  QuickSearch and ILLiad systems which makes placing a borrow request a simple process.

1. Search for the book you wish to order in WorldCat and click its title. 
2. Under "Access from your libraries", click View access options.
   • Click Get it @ ISU if you're not sure if the ISU Library owns a copy. 
   • Click Iowa State Interlibrary Loan if you already know that ISU doesn't have a copy. 
3. Log into ILLiad with your net-id and password.
4. The request form should be automatically filled out for you. Review it to make sure it is accurate then click Submit Request. You'll receive an email when your request is ready

How to Order Book Chapters

Ordering a book chapter is very similar to placing an order for a book as you must submit information on both the book and the chapter. However, you cannot order directly from WorldCat as book chapters are not indexed there. Unlike whole books, most book chapters can be scanned and sent to you as PDFs but ordering the entire book is also an option.

1. In a new window, log into Interlibrary Loan with your net-ID and password.
2. In the left menu click Book Chapter under the New Request menu.
3. Fill out as much as the form as possible.
4. Click Submit Request to complete the process. You'll get an email when it is available.