Interlibrary Loan Unit

Interlibrary loans are available exclusively to current ASU students, faculty and staff and Friends of the Porter Henderson Library.

Fill out the appropriate online forms: 

• Available within the FirstSearch, EBSCOhost and Cambridge Scientific Abstracts databases, or
• On the ASU Library website.

To facilitate processing, requests will be handled in the following order of priority:

1. Requests submitted via FirstSearch, EBSCOhost and Cambridge Scientific Abstracts databases
2. Requests submitted via the ASU Library’s online forms

Photocopies of journal, magazine or newspaper articles, published books and government documents may be requested. Theses, dissertations and audiovisual materials can be requested, but are sometimes difficult to obtain on loan.

Items owned by the ASU Library cannot be requested, such as:

• Course textbooks
• Genealogical materials
• “Best Sellers” (Popular items that are currently in high demand and are available at the public library)
• Reference materials
• Original manuscripts
• Rare, old or fragile materials

To avoid unnecessary delays in getting your materials, please search RamCat before placing your requests to check the availability of books, print periodicals and online articles.

If the book or journal issue is on the shelf, library staff will cancel the request and notify you that the material is available in the library. If your article is available in full text in one or more of our databases, library staff will cancel the request and email you instructions on how to access the electronic resource.

You can submit any number of requests at once. However, library staff can only guarantee to place five requests per borrower per week through the InterLibrary Loan system.

InterLibrary Loan services are free to all authorized borrowers.

Special circumstances exist, though, such as borrowing costs charged by the lending institution, or copyright clearance fees.
You can indicate how much you are willing to pay on your request form, and we will work within your limitations.

If there are additional charges, or the item costs more than what you indicated, library staff will contact you before submitting your request to confirm that you are willing to pay these extra costs.

The average time required to receive a requested item is 10 working days. Some requests can be filled more quickly; others may take much longer. The actual time it takes to receive requested materials varies from loan to loan.

All items are requested from the nearest and fastest source available with some consideration given to cost. You are encouraged to submit your requests as early as possible to ensure the timely arrival of your materials.

Library staff will notify you by phone or email. You can also check the status of your request(s) at any time by logging into RamCat and viewing your Library Account.

Items on loan must be picked up at the Circulation Desk using a valid ASU One Card or Friends of the Library Card.

Articles will be emailed directly to your ASU email account.

The loan period is determined by the lending library and is indicated on the ILL strap attached to the item. On average, loan periods range from 2-4 weeks, but for special materials, it may be as little as three days. Some materials may be restricted to “In-Library use only” by the lending library and may not be checked out for use at home.

Libraries that allow their materials to be renewed will indicate so on the ILL strap, but a renewal should be asked for only when absolutely necessary and only once per item. To request a renewal, come in person, call (325-486-6551) or email the ILL office (ill@angelo.edu) at least three days before your material is due.

Please return loaned materials with their ILL strap intact to the Circulation Desk. (You may return loaned books to any of the library book drops at your own risk.)

You are financially responsible for all your materials from the time you pick them up until they are returned to the library. If the materials are lost or damaged while in your possession, you must pay any repair, replacement or processing fees that the lending library charges.

If you are late returning your loaned materials, you will be assessed a fine of $1 per day for each overdue item.

• Thoroughly check RamCat to see if the material is available at the library before placing a request.
• Provide accurate contact information, including a valid email address and/or phone number.
• Provide a complete citation.
• Pick up your materials promptly.
• Take proper care of borrowed materials and return them in the same condition in which you received them.
• Return materials by their due date.
• Honor any restrictions that are stipulated by the lending library.

The Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. There is a provision for “fair use” by libraries known as the CONTU guidelines. These guidelines place two key restrictions on the requesting of articles:

1. No more than five articles from any one periodical title published in the last five years can be requested in one calendar year. Once that limit has been reached, the library cannot request any more until the following year (not without paying copyright fees).
2. No more than one article from any one issue of a periodical can be requested at one time.

Your request may be denied if the copyright fee is excessive or if permission to copy cannot be obtained from the copyright holder.

The TexShare Card program is a reciprocal borrowing program. Registered users must obtain a TexShare Card from their home library before they are able to check out materials from other institutions. Current ASU students, faculty and staff may request a TexShare Card in person at the Circulation Desk. Cards are only valid for one semester.

Materials borrowed on a TexShare Card are subject to the lending library’s policies and must be returned in person or by first-class mail. Search for participating TexShare Card libraries on the TSLAC website.