Interlibrary Loan Information

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is the service by which registered borrowers of the Robertson Library may obtain material that is not held in this library. Interlibrary loans are arranged through co-operative agreements with other libraries and special procedures are required. 

Interlibrary Loan may also be used to request scans of print materials held in the Robertson Library. This process is often referred to as Scan on Demand, or, Document Delivery. We will scan chapters from print books, or, articles from print journals. We do not scan from materials on Reserve. Students must access those materials in person.

It is also the mechanism by which other libraries borrow materials located at the Robertson Library.

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is available to all UPEI students, faculty, staff, and, registered public borrowers. 

This service may be used by faculty, graduate students, undergraduate students, and staff to request a scanned copy of an article or chapter from our Library's print collection (Scan on Demand), or, to acquire research materials from another library. Costs are paid for by the University. Note: Undergraduate requests, with the exception of those for honours projects, are filled from Canadian libraries only. 

Members of the Public (registered public borrowers) may also request materials through ILL. For members of the public; if there is a cost associated with acquiring the material, you will be notified by the ILL department and payment must be made, in person, at the Service Desk, before the request will be filled. Requests from public borrowers will be processed when time permits. 

Patrons may also wish to consider local public libraries for materials that are not of an academic nature. The item you are looking for may be sitting on a shelf nearby. The PEI Public Library Service catalogue is available from here. If you are not affiliated with UPEI, please contact your local library to request our materials, or, register for a public borrower's card. 

Other libraries may wish to refer to our entry in the Canadian Library Directory for more information.

Use the handy "Make an Interlibrary loan Request" link available in most of our databases to pre-populate the bibliographic information of the ILL request form for you. You will need to submit a separate form for each chapter, article, or, book requested. 

Alternatively, there is a manual form available from this Interlibrary Loan page, or, here.

Before placing an Interlibrary Loan request: 

Check the Robertson Library's extensive collection of print and electronic book (ebook) holdings. If you wish to see an item that is owned by the Library, but, on loan to another patron, place a hold on that item in the library catalogue. If an item is out on extended loan, you may ask at the Service Desk to have the item recalled for your use.

Check Periodical titles and ISSNs from the "Journals" tab located on the library homepage to ensure the Library does not own the item. 

Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) may also be checked from our holdings, or, from publisher's sites here: Digital Object Identifier. 

There are many tools to help you locate resources more efficiently. Google Scholar especially with the library plug-in is a great resource for material. The Unpaywall and EndNote browser extensions will also find open access versions. Note that some articles may not be the final published versions, so, patrons are advised to be aware of that.

When you successfully submit a request, you will receive 2 auto-generated responses; a notification with your request number in your browser session; and, an email notification. Keep the number handy for any questions you may have about your request. If you do not receive the email notification, the address may have been entered incorrectly, ie yourname @ upei.com instead of yourname @ upei.ca, or, the message is being blocked by your email settings. Check your Spam or Junk Mail folders to see if the message was redirected there. If you are using an email address other than the one provided by UPEI; ex: anyone@gmail.com, you must also enter it in the Notes field. If you do not get these notifications, there is a problem. Email ill@upei.ca explaining your situation and we'll try to help.

Charges for interlibrary loans vary. The Library covers the costs for undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and staff. While the Library covers the costs for our students, staff and faculty, please be aware that there are costs to filling the request. Public borrowers will be charged for costs (if any) incurred for the loans/scans. Payment must be made before the request will be processed. 

If you've requested and received an article, please do your best to download and save that article for future reference, rather than having to request it again. Documents may be accessed 3 times, or, within 14 days, whichever comes first. If you have lost access to an item you already received, email ill@upei.ca as we may be able to resend the link or the document to you. Many newspaper articles and book reviews are published in a variety of sources, some that charge and others that are free, so check for freely available resources before placing your Interlibrary Loan request. 

A version of many articles may be freely available from Google Scholar, academia.edu ResearchGate.net PubMed Central Arxiv.org or other Open Access sites. Please be mindful that these may be pre-prints or author manuscripts. Unpaywall and the Open Access button are two of the many tools that plug in to your browser to allow easier discoverability.

The amount of time it takes for an item to arrive depends on a number of factors, e.g., accuracy of the bibliographical information supplied on the request form, the response of the lending library, and the method of delivery.

Some average times include:

• Journal Article -- 2 days to 2 weeks

• Books and Microform from a Canadian library -- 1 - 4 weeks

   

Digital items: most articles and chapters are delivered in an email message as a link to retrieve the PDF file. The attachment is merely a copy of your request -- not the actual article. If you encounter any difficulties opening the resource, please forward the email and any comments to ill@upei.ca. You may wish to try a different browser first. You could also log in to your account to see the status of your request or download a requested article. Note that tablets may not be able to handle pdfs. The symptom of this is that you will only see the first page of the pdf. You can, however, download the file on a computer and transfer it to your tablet.

Print items: ILL'd books (and microform) are held at the Service Desk. Most items borrowed from other academic libraries will have a 42 day (6 week) loan period from the time they are received by the library, but, materials borrowed from a Public Library are typically only available for 28 days (4 weeks). Please try to use the material in that time, but, if you feel you need the material for longer, email us at ill@upei.ca and we shall request an extension from the lending library. The response will be at the discretion of that library, so please use the materials as if you have only the original amount of time. 

In some circumstances, the library will consider the purchase of recently published materials instead of borrowing from elsewhere. You will be notified if the library decides to pursue this course of action.

• books which Robertson Library does not own. If we have access to the ebook, but you require the print version for your research, please indicate in the Notes field of your request that you need the print version.
• books that are missing or at the bindery
• chapters of a book, print or electronic (up to 20% of the book)
• journal articles (one article per journal issue)
• newspapers (microform only)
• conference proceedings
• theses. Note that many theses are freely available electronically. Often, they may be located with a Google Scholar, Voila, Worldcat or Google search. Many theses are also now made available freely through the degree granting University Library's Digital Repository. If you know the institution that granted the degree, you may wish to check to see if a digital copy is freely available. OpenDOAR, the Open Directory of Open Access Repositories, indexes the content of many institutional repositories. PQDT Open allows you to read the full text of open access dissertations and theses free of charge.
• microforms
• audiovisual materials (subject to availability)

• ebooks. Due to publisher restrictions, most electronic books cannot be shared through ILL, however, some publishers have removed those restrictions, and, where circumstances allow, we will fill your book request with the electronic version.
• current textbooks as most libraries will not have a circulating copy
• items available at Robertson Library, though, we will scan chapters from our print books or, articles from our print journal holdings (Scan on Demand) unless they are on Reserve. Students must access those materials in person at the Service Desk. 
• software
• entire issue of a journal
• reference material, though you may request sections/topics which will be scanned and sent to you as a pdf. Select the "book chapter" item type on the ILL form just as you would for a scan of a book chapter.   

Email is the primary method used to contact the borrower. Our system will use the email address in your Library Account by default, so, if you wish to use an address other than your @upei.ca one, please also enter it in the Notes field for each request you submit. 

All requested ILL books and microform are held at the Service Desk for pickup. 

Digital items: You will be notified by email when articles and chapters are delivered. To retrieve your document, you may follow the link in that notice, or, log in to your ILL-specific account. Note that the attachment is merely a copy of your request -- not the actual article. If you encounter any difficulties, please forward the email and any comments to ill@upei.ca. You may wish to try a different browser first. Note that tablets may not be able to handle pdfs. The symptom of this is that you will only see the first page of the pdf. You can, however, download the file on a computer and transfer it to your tablet.

Note that Interlibrary Loan is a service libraries provide to other libraries. Most material from other academic libraries may be borrowed for 6 weeks with one renewal, but, because the loan is from one library to another, the six weeks is from the time we receive the book, not from the time you pick it up. The loan period for materials received from Public libraries is usually shorter, typically 28 days (4 weeks) use. If you wish to request an extension, please email ill@upei.ca at least 2 business days before the due date. Occasionally the lending institution will recall material before the assigned due date. In this case, the borrower will be notified and must return the material; otherwise fines will be incurred. There may be a $1.00 per day fine on overdue interlibrary loan material.

It is the responsibility of the borrower to return the borrowed material (complete with the UPEI Interlibrary Loan book sleeve) directly to the Service Desk by its due date. Fines of $1.00 per day may be levied for materials returned after the due date. Lost or long overdue books will result in overdue fines and replacement fees at the discretion of the lending library.

Please contact us by email ill@upei.ca or telephone 902-566-0445.