Interlibrary Loans

Interlibrary loan (ILL) borrowing provides Otterbein students, faculty, and staff access to desired materials available in library collections other than our university or libraries associated with OhioLINK and SearchOhio. Alumni and community patrons may also use interlibrary loan if they become Friends of the Library and they will be responsible for any fees we are assessed for acquiring an item.

On This Page:

Request Article, Book Chapter, or Portion of a Book

Articles can either be requested through the “Request this item through Interlibrary Loan” link in One Search or by using this form. If using our form, please have your citation information ready- article title, journal title, date, volume, issue and pages.

Journal and Magazine Articles Request Form

If you have immediate need of a portion of a book you have requested but it has not arrived yet, you can request a chapter of the book be sent to you to use while you wait for the whole book to arrive. That can be requested using the following form. You will need the chapter’s page numbers, as well as the author and title of the chapter (if available). You will also need the title and author of the book as well.

Chapter or Portion of a Book Request Form

Articles requested from other libraries can take up to five business days to arrive and are sent to your Otterbein email address. The email you receive that alerts you to the arrival of your article will have the subject line “The article you requested is now available” and the sender will be “Sent from OCLC WorldShare ILL.” If you are utilizing Outlook’s split inbox, it will appear in the “Other” inbox instead of your “Focused” inbox.

To access the article, copy the password in the email and then click the link provided. You will be prompted to enter the password to gain access to the article. In keeping with copyright, the article you received will be available for five viewings or for 30 days, whichever happens first. If you have problems accessing the article, please contact the Circulation Supervisor, library@otterbein.edu or 614-823-3072.

Request Books & Other Media

Before requesting books, CDs, DVDs, theses/dissertations, government documents, or conference proceedings through interlibrary loan, please check OPAL, OhioLINK, or SearchOhio to make sure they can not be requested there. Please note that materials requested through interlibrary loan will be arriving through US Mail, so may take between 7-10 days to arrive.

After you’ve checked other catalogs for the item you are requesting, you may click the links below to request your items.

When your request has arrived, you will be notified by email. Items can be picked up at the Customer Service desk. Due dates and renewals are determined by the lending library, so if you need a renewal on your items please contact the Circulation Supervisor, at library@otterbein.edu or call 614-823-3072 so that she can ask the lending library for a due date extension. You will be notified by email if your renewal request was approved and your new due date will be given.

Policies

The Courtright Memorial Library endorses the principles relating to Interlibrary loan, including those of the ALA Interlibrary Loan Code, the US Copyright Law and US Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works (CONTU) Guidelines, the OhioLINK Interlibrary Loan Policy, and all federal and state laws governing confidentiality of records.

Loan Charges

Every effort is made to obtain your requests from libraries that provide materials for free. However, some libraries do charge to borrow their materials. If the item you have requested can only be found at a library that will charge us, you will be contacted before the item is ordered to approve the charges. When making your request, please include the maximum amount you are willing to pay in the space provided on the request form. If the item you have requested can only be found at a library that will charge us, you will be contacted before the item is ordered to approve the charges. Charges are due at the time you pick up the item and we accept cash or checks made out to Otterbein University.

Copyright Restrictions

The copyright law of the United States (TITLE 17, United States Code) governs the making of reproductions of copyrighted materials. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

This institution reserves the right to refuse a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

Interlibrary Loan Borrowing

There are no limits to the number of requests that may be submitted at one time. Turnaround time for materials depends on the source providing the requested material. Currently, the library is an OCLC Express library, which means that we are able to request materials from libraries that have promised to deliver articles within 18 hours or less whenever possible. Returnable materials, such as books or media, will take longer depending on the location they are borrowed from but generally will take 7-10 days, holidays and weekends notwithstanding. When your item arrives, you will receive an email either notifying you of its availability for pickup at our Customer Service desk or an email with a URL and password to access your article. Loan periods are determined by the lending institution and will be stated at checkout. Renewals are granted on a case-by-case basis, depending on the lending library. Contact the Circulation Supervisor, at library@otterbein.edu or 614-823-3072 if you need a renewal, and she will contact the lending library to inquire for you. Each lending library establishes its own interlibrary loan policy addressing what items may be borrowed from its collection. If we are unable to find a lender for your item, you will be notified by email.

Interlibrary Loan Lending Policies

The following information is posted for libraries participating in the interlibrary loan program who would like to borrow our materials. Anyone from the general public may go to their home library, be it a public, academic, or special library, and use their interlibrary loan service to request materials from the Courtright Memorial Library. Our OCLC symbol is OTC.

We receive requests via OCLC WorldShare, but also accept requests submitted by ALA form via mail or email, as well as requests submitted by fax (614-823-1921) or email.

While most of our material circulates freely, our library does lend some books and media on a case-by-case basis, depending on cost, age, or collection. Periodicals, ebooks and videos, items in our archives, and our course reserve collections do not circulate. Articles can be lent from our databases contingent upon our license agreement with the individual database.

Our library is a Libraries Very Interested in Sharing (LVIS) member and will not charge you to borrow our materials.

We provide a 16-week lending period for our books with no renewals and a 3-week lending period for media.

Please see the Library’s full Schedule of Operations for additional information.

Contact the Library

138 West Main Street.
Westerville, OH 43081
614-823-1215
library@otterbein.edu

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