Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

Local NSU students, faculty, staff, as well as public patrons that have an NSU library card are eligible to request books and journal articles that are not available at NSU. The Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center uses Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to borrow materials from other libraries whenever possible. Because of the time required for processing and delivery from the lending library, it can take as little as three days to as much as two weeks or longer to obtain some materials, depending on the availability or type of material requested. Due to these factors, you should begin your research as soon as possible to allow for any unexpected delays. NSU Libraries abide by the 1976 U.S. Copyright Law, which governs the borrowing and use of photocopies and other reproductions of copyrighted materials.

Requesting Materials

Distance users of the Alvin Sherman Library can request items from the DD/ILL Department through their ILLiad account.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• The DD/ILL Department will not accept incomplete citations. Requests received with incomplete citations will be returned to you. Please stop by the Reference Desk or call if you have questions about what constitutes a complete citation: 954-262-4613 or 1-800-541-6682, ext. 24613.
• Please confirm that you do not have any outstanding fines with the Circulation and/or Interlibrary Loan Department prior to submitting requests. Request for materials will not be processed until all fines have been paid.
• Please be certain that the item(s) you are requesting are not available within the NSU Libraries' collections. You can check to see if an item is available at NSU by searching NovaCat. Requests for materials that are currently available through the Alvin Sherman Library collection will not be filled for local users. For journal articles, you may also wish to check our full text databases before making a request. To find out if a particular journal is available in full text, check Journal Finder.

Processing of Requests

Turnaround time between processing requests and receipt of materials is dependent upon several factors, most of which are outside the control of the NSU Libraries. Because materials need to be shipped from the lending library, please allow at least 5-15 working days for your materials to arrive at NSU. Most materials will arrive within this time frame, although some materials may take longer.

Pick-up

You will be notified when your requested materials have arrived at the library. Materials will be held for pick up at the Circulation Desk in the Alvin Sherman Library, North Miami Beach Branch Library, or the Oceanographic Center. Faculty and staff may request that journal articles be delivered via interoffice mail. All users must come to library to check out materials that need to be returned to the lending institution.

Electronic Delivery

The DD/ILL Department now provides desktop delivery of articles to its local patrons. Through ILLiad we are able to post articles to a web site while simultaneously sending an e-mail notification to the patron. Users can select this mode of delivery in their ILLiad user account. We will only post materials that we receive from other libraries, we cannot post materials held by the Alvin Sherman Library for local patrons.

Returning & Renewing Materials

Photocopies of articles are yours to keep, but books and other materials must be returned to the library. Books requested through the DD/ILL Department have a paper band around the cover indicating the due date. Please return books - with the paper band intact - to the Alvin Sherman Library by the due date to avoid a fine. Books returned to the lending libraries late seriously jeopardize our ability to request materials from that library in the future. If you need to keep a book longer, please contact DD/ILL Department before the due date so that we may request a renewal from the lending library.