Interlibrary Loan Services

Request Forms 

             - Form for books or audio/visual     
                    - Form to request a photocopy of journal article, book chapter, essay, etc.
                   -  Form to request a renewal of your current ILL item

     Distance Education Form - for use by Distance Education Students and Faculty ONLY

Borrowing Policy
Lending Policy

Borrowing Policy

The Interlibrary Services (ILS) Department provides access for students, faculty, and staff of Harding University  to collections at other participating libraries and organizations. It also provides access for those participating libraries and organizations to the Brackett Library collection. If you are not currently affiliated with Harding, please check with your local library about getting materials you need. 

Any material consistent with Harding University policy may be requested through the ILS Department. However, any request for materials already owned by Brackett Library usually will be denied.

Every effort is made by ILS staff to obtain materials needed by students and faculty in a timely manner, but unfortunately not every request can be filled. ILS is generally able to obtain loans of books, monographs, and reports that are available in the U. S. Theses, dissertations and audio-visual materials, though sometimes available, are more difficult to obtain.  Some dissertations are available in fulltext through the ABI/INFORM database of business related resources. Photocopies are usually supplied for specific journal articles, essays, and papers from conference proceedings.

Materials that are rarely available for loan include: reference books, rare books, genealogical materials, complete issues of periodicals or newspapers, maps, recent acquisitions and best sellers, recent DVDs, and materials in fragile or poor condition. Some institutions will not loan copies of their theses or dissertations. However, copies of them often are available for purchase. The ILS staff can give you more information.

All items borrowed through Interlibrary Services are subject to recall at the request of the lending library.

Delivery of materials requested through the interlibrary loan department can take anywhere from one day to over a month, depending on several factors. However, if a photocopy is needed within a three working days, Brackett Library offers a Rush Request service. We cannot rush request books or other loaned items (tapes, CDs, etc.).

 Brackett Library Policy on Acquiring Dissertations for Patrons

Dissertations and theses are increasingly freely available in full text online or for borrowing from other libraries.  Dissertations not available from those sources are typically available for purchase through Proquest Dissertation Express.  Since the mission of Brackett Library is to "provide materials and services in support of the curriculum...[and]...to provide materials for faculty research," the Interlibrary Services Department of Brackett Library will work hard to fulfill every request for a dissertation or thesis.

If Brackett Library cannot obtain access to a dissertation online or from another library, it will try to purchase a copy from Proquest. There will be no charge to faculty and graduate students for up to five dissertation purchases per school year for each patron. Those purchased will be the permanent property of Brackett Library. If there should be a need to purchase more than five dissertations or theses for any one patron during a school year, the patron will be charged a $10 fee. Requests by undergraduate students for dissertation purchases will be considered on a case by case basis with mediation from a reference librarian. Brackett Library will not make dissertation purchases for VIP card holders.

Brackett Library reserves the right to further limit dissertation purchases at any time.

Fees and Fines

There is a nominal fee to Harding students for interlibrary borrowing. A fee of $.10 per page for photocopies and $1.00 per loaned item (book, tape, CD, etc.) will be collected when students pick up their requested materials at Brackett Library.

For photocopies ordered through the Rush Request service, there is a fee of $5.00 per article with  delivery within 3 working days. To use this service, please fill out the Rush Request Form.

There is a higher risk in borrowing items from other libraries. Therefore, fines for overdue items borrowed through Interlibrary Services receive a higher fine than items borrowed from Brackett Library. Each day an item is overdue, we will charge a $.50 fine.  If you want to keep the item you have received through ILS longer and want to avoid overdue fines, submit a renewal request to the ILS department, preferably 5 days before the item is due.

Loan Periods

Loan periods for materials borrowed through the interlibrary loan department are established by the lending library.  Brackett Library complies with those loan periods and strictly administers fines for materials not returned on time. You may make a request for renewal or extension of the loan period at any time.  However, requests for renewal may be denied at the discretion of the ILS staff and are subject to the approval of the lending library.

Lending Policy

Brackett Library is happy to loan its materials, except for the items listed below, to libraries in the United States. We will also send photocopies to libraries in the United States and to libraries around the world who can receive via ARIEL. We accept requests in the following ways only: OCLC, ALA ILL Form (see below), and ArkFax. We do not charge for faxing or ARIEL.