Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery Policy

I. Introduction

Information and Library Services (ILS) provides interlibrary loan and document delivery services to current UMUC students, faculty, and staff in the United States and overseas. ILS brands these services as DocumentExpress. To be eligible to use ILS’s DocumentExpress service, one must be currently engaged in a course or employed by UMUC, i.e., a student must be currently participating in at least one UMUC course; a faculty member must be teaching at least one course in the current semester or term; and a staff member must be currently employed by UMUC. UMUC alumni are eligible to use ILS’s on-site collection but cannot make DocumentExpress requests. ILS loans its materials to other libraries free of charge, nationally and internationally.

II. Definitions 

  1. Interlibrary Loan (ILL) – an ILS service that obtains returnable (e.g., books, DVDs, and CDs) and non-returnable (e.g., photocopies of articles) materials from libraries that are not available (i.e., not owned, present, or not allowed to circulate) in the University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions’ (USMAI) libraries (see UMUC’s Circulation Policy 240.90).
  2. Document Delivery (DD) – an ILS service that provides PDF (Portable Document Format) versions of journal/magazine articles not available in ILS’s full-text databases or E-journals collections. Also provided are PDF versions of book chapters (generally no more that 20% of any given book due to copyright restrictions). These materials are delivered to individual accounts accessible to current UMUC students, faculty and staff via the DocumentExpress interface. These documents can be read online, downloaded, and/or printed once accessed. All PDF documents expire after twenty-one days and become irretrievable.

III. ILS’s Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Practices for the UMUC Community

  1. Cost: UMUC students, faculty and staff may use ILS’s DocumentExpress service free of charge. However, individuals are held responsible for returning loaned books by the due date. If books are not returned within three (3) weeks of the due date, an individual may be liable for a $50.00 to $500.00 replacement fee per item charged by ILS on behalf of the lending library.
  2. Services: ILS provides ILL (as defined in II, A) services to current UMUC students, faculty and staff within the continental United States and to faculty in AK and HI. ILS provides document delivery (as defined in II, B) services to all current UMUC students, faculty and staff regardless of residency location.
  3. Misuse: DocumentExpress is a research service available to UMUC students, faculty, and staff as a privilege. ILS reserves the right to curtail or terminate an individual’s DocumentExpress privilege in certain circumstances, e.g., efforts to circumvent clauses in the Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery Policy, and abuse of the privilege for personal advantage to the detriment of the larger UMUC community.
  4. Summary of ILL service by patron type

    Patron

    Eligibility

    Privileges

    Fines

    Undergraduates

    Must be currently registered in a UMUC class.

    20 ILL/document delivery per sixteen-week period (i.e., two consecutive eight-week terms). (Full length, hardcopy books may be obtained for those in the continental US only)

    A $50-500 non-refundable UMUC fee if books are overdue and not returned within three weeks of the due date.

    Graduate Students

    Must be currently registered in a UMUC class.

    Unlimited number of ILL / document delivery. (Full length, hardcopy books may be obtained for those in the continental US only)

    A $50-500 non-refundable UMUC fee if books are overdue and not returned within three weeks of the due date.

     Faculty

    Must be currently teaching a UMUC class.

    Unlimited number of ILL / document delivery

    (Full length, hardcopy books may be obtained for those anywhere in the US)

    A $50-500 non-refundable UMUC fee if books are overdue and not returned within three weeks of the due date.

    Staff

     

    Must be a currently employed UMUC staff member.

    Unlimited number of ILL / document delivery

    (Full length, hardcopy books may be obtained for those in the continental US only)

    A $50-500 non-refundable UMUC fee if books are overdue and not returned within three weeks of the due date.

    Alumni

    Not eligible

    N/a

    N/a


  5. ILL and document delivery requests are accepted via the DocumentExpress interface at this URL: https://illiad.umuc.edu/Illiad/logon.html and from within ILS’s collection of online databases via the Find it! button.
  6. Audio/visual materials such as CDs, CD-ROMs, VHS, and DVD titles are seldom loaned via ILL, and they are not available for document delivery. Stateside patrons may inquire with ILS but should be aware that the likelihood of obtaining these materials is minimal.
  7. Textbook materials are rarely purchased by libraries for their collections. ILS refers all students, faculty, and staff making ILL or Document Delivery requests for textbook materials to UMUC’s online bookstore, MBS Direct, or the textbook publisher.
  8. Item availability and loan periods for ILL books are entirely dependent on the policies of the lending library. ILS cannot override or interfere with the policies of other libraries.
  9. Delivery and Return of ILL and Document Delivery Materials
    1. Books: ILS delivers ILL books via UPS to current students, faculty, and staff living within the continental United States (or to faculty in AK or HI) upon request. UPS return labels are included in the initial shipment. Patrons should use these labels to return materials to ILS.
    2. Electronic document delivery: Materials delivered via document delivery are not subject to return and may be kept by the requestor in digital or paper format. Document delivery materials will be deleted from individual DocumentExpress accounts after twenty-one days of availability and are not retrievable after this time lapses.
    3. Delivery turnaround times: The average time for an ILL book to be delivered to the requestor is two to three weeks. The average document delivery time for journal articles and book chapters varies from the same day as the request to a few weeks. Speed of delivery for both ILL and document delivery depend in large part upon the operational capabilities of the loaning libraries.

IV. ILS’s Lending Practices with non-USMAI Libraries

  1. ILS adheres to Title 17 of the US Code, the CONTU Guidelines and the Universal Copyright and Berne Conventions.
  2. Materials Available to Borrowing Libraries
    1. All monographs except those classified as non-circulating.
    2. Photocopies of articles from periodicals.
    3. Portions of books, i.e., photocopies of book chapters.
    4. VHS, DVD, other audio-visual and computer files are not part of the ILS interlibrary loan lending program but may be made available on a case-by-case basis.
    5. Photocopies of archival material, theses, and dissertations may be made available on a case-by-case basis.
  3. Process Information for Potential Borrowing Libraries
    1. All requests for materials should be made via OCLC. ILS may consider requests received via mail, electronic mail, telephone, or fax if unusual circumstances exist.
    2. ILS does not charge borrowing libraries for the use of its materials.
    3. ILS does not charge late fees.
    4. ILS does charge for lost materials.
    5. The loan period for ILS monographs is twenty-eight days. Loans may be renewed up to five times.
    6. If ILS must recall an item, we expect it to be returned within fourteen days.
    7. All photocopy materials sent to borrowing libraries need not be returned to ILS unless specifically stated.
    8. ILS prefers that all borrowing institutions use an expedited postal or courier service with tracking capability when returning ILS materials.