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Interlibrary LoanInterlibrary loan is a service whereby a user of one library can borrow books, microfilms, recordings or photocopies of articles in magazines that are owned by another library. Sometimes for a small fee, a library that has the item is found, and the item is transported to the requestor's library for use within the library or to be checked out. Without interlibrary loans, if a library patron found an item they wanted, they would have to travel to that library, and apply for a local library card if eligible or present a reciprocal card in order to borrow the item. By taking advantage of interlibrary loan, in comparison, the technical services department of the library can search thousands of libraries at once, transport the item from thousands of miles away, and allow them to borrow the item using their local library card. Loans between branch libraries in the same system may take one or two days, while loans between library systems may take a week or more to be delivered. If an item is rare or difficult to find, this may be the easiest way to gain access to it. However, if an item is rare or difficult to find, interlibrary loan does not guarantee that the lending library will even send the item to you through your local library. Some collections and volumes may be non-circulating. Since the mid-1980s interlibrary loan searches have become easier, as many libraries have allowed library users to search their online catalogs at the library or over the Internet. This may be a search of one library at a time or of all the libraries in a particular library co-operative. Libraries have formed voluntary associations with each other to provide a union catalog of all the items held by all member libraries, to facilitate interlibrary loans. OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) is usually used by public libraries in the U.S., and RLIN (Research Libraries Information Network) is usually used by academic libraries, although some libraries are members of both. Libraries that do not belong to a network participate in interlibrary loan by making the arrangements by postal mail.
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