Are there certain materials that are difficult to interlibrary loan?
Answer
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Videos and films: Some libraries lend videos and DVDs through interlibrary loan. We will attempt to borrow these items for you, but our success rate is not as high as with other material.
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Early imprints: Material published prior to 1900 may be difficult to obtain on loan. Often it may be in a non-circulating collection (e.g., a rare books collection) or may be too fragile to ship. In some cases a photocopy of an excerpt can be obtained if a loan is not possible. If an excerpt would be satisfactory for your needs, please include this information when you place a request for a pre-1900 title.
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Manuscript and archival material: Archival and manuscript material is normally not available on interlibrary loan, although photocopy or microfilm copies of excerpts may be in some circumstances.
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Journal volumes: Volumes of journals and other serially-published materials are not usually lent by other libraries, so it may not be possible to obtain them on loan. Try requesting some of the individual articles in the issues instead and we will try to fill them.
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Microforms: We make every attempt to borrow material in paper format because of its more portable and convenient format, but often microform is the only option.
