Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
If you have found materials that are not available through Vanderbilt, you can request them through a partner institution using Interlibrary Loan. More information about the service is below.
What is Interlibrary loan (ILL?)
- A free service for requesting materials that are not available at Vanderbilt.
- Facilitates access to books, journal articles, and other items that a library would typically loan like theses and DVDs.
How long does it take?
- Journal articles: Requests are usually filled in 48 hours, but budget 3 business days to be safe.
- Books: Requests can take anywhere from 1-2 weeks. Rare or hard to find items may take longer.
Who can make an ILL request?
- Vanderbilt faculty, staff, and currently enrolled students.
How do I submit a request?
- Login to your ILL account with your VUnet ID and password and select the appropriate request form from the New Requests menu.
- Or, initiate your request from the library catalog using the link available in the "How to get it" section of the item record.
- Please provide as much detailed information as possible about the item you are requesting.
- If available, please provide the following:
- An ISBN number for book requests
- A DOI number for journal article requests.
- If available, please provide the following:
Who do I contact if I have a problem or question about my request?
- ILL is a service provided by the Resource Sharing Services department at the Vanderbilt Libraries
- Contact Resource Sharing Services
What is scan and deliver?
- A free service for requesting book chapter and article scans from print books and journals available at Vanderbilt.
- You can also request scans for content available on microfilm.
- Sometimes also called document delivery.
How long does it take?
- All requests are usually fulfilled within 3 business days.
How do I submit a request?
- Start your request by searching for your item in the Library Catalog.
- Don't forget to sign into your Library Account, just look for yellow bar for the sign in link.
- Don't forget to sign into your Library Account, just look for yellow bar for the sign in link.
- After logging in, you should see a Request chapter/article scan link in the Location Items section of the record
- The Request chapter/article scan link will prompt you to login to your resource sharing account using your VUnet ID.
- The request form will auto-populate with basic information about the source material. Please supplement additional details
- Article/ chapter title.
- Page numbers.
- Year and volume and issue numbers for journal articles.
- Please include as much detail as possible to help us locate the correct sections needing to be scanned.
Is there a page limit for scans?
- Individual requests should be 100 pages or less.
- Please note that we are unable to scan entire books due to our page limit as well as copyright restrictions.
Who do I contact if I have a problem or question about my request?
- Scan and deliver is a service provided by the Resource Sharing Services department at the Vanderbilt Libraries
- Contact Resource Sharing Services
What is the Center for Research Libraries (CRL)?
- The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) is an international consortium of university, college, and independent research libraries, founded in 1949.
- Vanderbilt is a CRL member.
What does CRL offer?
- CRL provides member institutions with access to diverse and highly developed collections:
- Largest collection of circulating newspapers in North America.
- Approximately 6,500 international newspapers, many dating to the 1700s.
- Approximately 4,500 U.S. newspapers, many dating to the colonial era.
- Approximately 2,000 U.S. ethnic titles
- Approx. 5,000 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp newspapers and newsletters.
- More than 38,000 foreign journals rarely held in U.S. libraries.
- More than 800,000 dissertations.
- Mostly from European institutions.
- Area Studies
- Major microform and paper collections from Africa, Latin America, Middle East, Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia, and many other areas.
- In-depth holdings that support research in history of science, economics, law and government, immigration and population studies, international diplomacy, cultural studies, and more.
- Largest collection of circulating newspapers in North America.
Where can I find more information about these collections?
- Search CRL's Online Catalog for detailed information about items in the collection.
How can I request access to these materials?
- Submit a request for materials using Vanderbilt's interlibrary loan service.
Want to Find Books in Other Libraries?
Try WorldCat!
WorldCat contains more than 125 million records describing resources owned by U.S. libraries and libraries around the world.
- WorldCat (FirstSearch) This link opens in a new window
Catalog of books, manuscripts, websites, internet resources, maps, computer programs, musical scores, films, slides, newspapers, journals, magazines, sound recordings, articles, chapters, papers, and videotapes available at libraries worldwide. Cross-search OCLC databases: ArchiveGrid, ArticleFirst, Ebooks, ECO, ERIC, GPO, MEDLINE, OAIster, PapersFirst, ProceedingsFirst, WorldCat, and WorldCatDissertations.
