For materials not owned by the Library, you can request what you need through the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) department. Interlibrary loan services are offered without charge to all University faculty, students and staff. Request forms are available under "Services and Facilities" on the Library's web site. There is also a tab labeled "Interlibrary Loan" in the Library Catalog.

However, often the best way to locate materials at other libraries for interlibrary loan is by using WorldCat, which is the largest bibliographic database in the world and includes millions of records for book titles and other materials. WorldCat is accessible from the Library's website under "Catalogs". You can search WorldCat for books, videos, recordings, and other materials at public and academic libraries. To make a request for an item, click on the button in the record. Another similar resource for locating materials at other libraries is the RLG Union Catalog (RLIN).

If you need a newspaper, magazine, or journal article from a publication which our library does not have, many of the major indexes at the Library

Items requested through Interlibrary Loan usually arrive in about 10 working days. Journal articles requested through ILL are often distributed to users electronically. To make best use of the service, please read the answers to the frequently asked questions of the ILL department.

Visit Another Library

If an item is not available from the Library and if you cannot wait for interlibrary loan, another option is to visit an area library that owns the item. You can determine what other libraries own either by searching their Library catalog directly, or by searching WorldCat. This latter option is helpful to ascertain general information, but does not provide circulation information (is the item on the shelf?) nor the dates of coverage for periodical titles owned.

University of Chicago users may set up for borrowing privileges for Northwestern University Library. Other libraries will usually not allow you to check out items directly.

You may need to telephone the reference department of the Library you wish to visit to obtain these details, as well as information regarding access and hours. In some cases, you may require an InfoPass to visit a library. To arrange for an InfoPass, please visit one of the UofC Library's reference departments.

Recommend a Library Purchase

You can request that the Library purchase an item for addition to the collections. Purchase Request forms are available on the Library's website and also can be accessed through a tab at the top of the Library catalog search page. Please keep in mind that materials can go out-of-print quickly so purchases are most successful for recently published titles. If you wish to do so, you can check on the status of titles published in the U.S. and Canada by searching Books in Print. It is sometimes helpful to discuss the purchase request in person with the appropriate subject bibliographer.