How long will an InterLibrary Loan request take and why is it that items requested from the same library sometimes arrive at different times?
• On average, ILL can acquire books within ten days, but may only take a few days. Articles typically arrive in less than a week. Turnaround time depends on the nature of the material requested, e.g. hard to find items, the number of libraries who own the item and which library owns it. For example, articles from a common journal are faster to obtain than items published overseas or unpublished technical reports. Rare or obscure items may take 6 to 12 weeks to obtain. Requests for materials are sent to a string of five different libraries owning the requested item. If the first library cannot fill your request it is sent on to the second, then to the third and so on. All the situations below may result in a longer than expected turnaround time or items from the same library arriving at different times: • Item is lost • Item is currently checked-out • Recently published material may not have been purchased and/or cataloged • Item is non-circulating • Entire journals, reserve materials,
