Interlibrary Loan FAQs

The Interlibrary Loan is a service provided to help NCCU students, faculty, staff and affiliates obtain materials unavailable in the NCCU Libraries. This includes items the libraries do not own as well as items that are currently borrowed, lost or missing from the libraries' collection.

All current NCCU students who are enrolled for courses are eligible for Interlibrary Loan Services as well as faculty, administration and staff who are currently employed by NCCU. However, a person whose library privileges have been suspended because of fines or long overdue items will be unable to place Interlibrary Loan requests until their library record has been cleared.

We will attempt to obtain any type of library material. However, A/V materials, whole journal volumes, genealogical sources, unpublished manuscripts, and materials that are rare, fragile, or in high demand are often hard to get. We will not request textbooks or items that are currently available in the Reserve Room.

1. First, search the Shepard Library online catalog.
2. If you are looking for a journal article, try our Journal Finder.
3. If these steps are unsuccessful, log on to ILLiad. If needed, consult a member of the Reference or Interlibrary Loan staff for assistance in clarifying citations and in locating and identifying indexing and abstracting sources.

If our office is open (weekdays, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.), call us at 919-530-6473. If the library is closed, go ahead and place a request using the ILLiad online request form and mark it as "rush" or "urgent" in the comments field.

Other things you can do include the following:

• Contact with a reference librarian because some items can be hard to find in our online catalog.
• Search the library catalogs of UNC-CH, NCSU, and Duke. With your NCCU ID, you have certain borrowing privileges at these universities.

Most interlibrary loan requests are no cost. However, if the lender charges any amount for any request, you will be responsible for the balance. No charged request that involves payment by you will be submitted without your prior approval. Late fees, recall fees, and replacement costs for lost books will apply and be charged to the borrower's financial account.

Plan ahead when requesting materials. Typically, an interlibrary request can take 5 to 10 working days depending on the difficulty of the request and the location of the lending library. If the item is available at UNC-Chapel Hill, NCSU, or Duke, it should take only 3–4 working days.

Patrons receiving loan items, such as books and microfilm, will be notified through their NCCU email address. Articles are sent electronically unless the lender has sent us a paper copy. If a paper copy is sent, we will notify you via your email address so that you may come and pick it up from the Reference Desk.

Books and other materials must be picked up at the Shepard Library Reference Desk. Articles and most other photocopied materials will be sent as an email delivery.

The loan period is set by the lending library and varies from library to library. Standard ILL due dates are about 2–4 weeks, whereas TRLN Interlibrary Loans are for 3 months, with no renewals. Due dates are printed on the Bookstrap.

Generally, there are no limits on the number of requests that can be submitted, although we do ask that when ordering books, the patrons consider how many books they can actually use at one time.

You can now renew your interlibrary loan material through your interlibrary loan account.

Note: if “no renewals” is printed on your book strap, you cannot renew.

Also, if you attempt to renew on the day your material is due back, or later, the system will not allow the renewal. It is best to request a renewal the day before the book is due back.

To find what interlibrary loan materials are borrowed out to you, log in to your Interlibrary Loan ILLiad account.

You can return materials to the Circulation/Reserve or the Reference Desk at Shepard Library.  Please do not return them directly to the lending institution and do not put them in one of the book drops.

Fines are levied for overdue interlibrary loan materials at the rate of $1.00 per day for each item, with no maximum fine. There is also a $5.00 per day charge for recalled materials.  Lost and damaged charges are set by the lending library. All fines charges will be placed on the patron's financial record.