Interlibrary Loan Policies and Procedures for Anderson Library |
The Interlibrary Loan Office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through
Thursday and 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Friday. You
can contact us by phone at (803) 938-3736 or by e-mail at illuscsum@gwm.sc.edu .
You should carefully check the library catalog to be certain that the item you need is not already held by the Anderson Library. If you need an item that is lost according to the catalog, you may order it through interlibrary loan with a note indicating the lost status.
Please check in the library catalog for citations that you find in the electronic databases to avoid requesting items that are held on campus.
Please cite the source of your information if possible. In the case of electronic sources, this can include the name of the database you used or the URL of the web page or database containing your reference. If your citation came from a book or article, please provide the complete bibliographic information, including page numbers. In the case of a journal, giving us the complete title rather than the abbreviation helps us process your request more quickly. This information helps us, and the lending library, identify exactly what you need. If you are at all unsure of the required information, please consult a reference librarian.
Please fill out the request form as completely as possible so that we can provide you with quick, efficient service.
Patrons must pay for dissertations obtained through UMI’s Dissertation Express. Please see our Dissertations and Theses section for more information
If you would like to designate an authorized user to pick up your materials for you, please do so at the time of registration. Authorized users may also place requests for you using your account.
If you have any questions or concerns about Faculty Express!, you may contact Pat Schultz, the librarian in charge of Faculty Express!, at 938-3736, or by e-mail at illuscsum@gwm.sc.edu .
The staff of the Interlibrary Loan Department will attempt to obtain any materials that you may need for your research. Usually, these are books and journal articles (photocopies), but also include microfilm, dissertations and theses, government documents, patents, and industry standards. If an item is missing from the University Libraries and the Circulation Department staff cannot locate it, the Interlibrary Loan staff will try to obtain it.
Items Not Available Through Interlibrary Loan
The following materials are usually not available through interlibrary loan:
In accordance with the National Interlibrary Loan Code:
Other materials that are usually not available through Interlibrary Loan include:
Please note that we cannot accept orders for textbooks that are available at the USC Sumter bookstore for currently offered courses.
Contact the Interlibrary Loan office at (803) 938-3736 or by e-mail at illuscsum@gwm.sc.edu if you have questions about what materials are or are not available through Interlibrary Loan.
The lending library, not our Interlibrary Loan staff, sets the
conditions for each loan. We cannot change those conditions, and we ask patrons to honor
them. The lending library may restrict the use of materials to use within the library
only, or disallow copying or renewal. Any such restrictions are noted on the loan slip.
The lending library also has the right to recall a loan at any time.
The number of Interlibrary Loan requests in progress at one time is limited according to
patron category.
Please plan your research activities accordingly. If there are special circumstances
surrounding your research, any of the Interlibrary Loan staff members will be happy to
discuss them with you. The limits are as follows:
Faculty: 20 active requests
Graduate students: 10 active requests
Staff: 20 active requests
Undergraduates: 10 active requests
Current members of the USC Sumter Alumni Association and Sumter School District 17 and 2 teachers: 2 requests per semester
Materials obtained through Interlibrary Loan are for your exclusive use and are your responsibility from the time they are picked up at the Circulation Desk until they are returned. You will be responsible for any late fees, replacement costs of lost material, and cost of damages.
Abuses of the Interlibrary Loan service can result in the loss of the your Interlibrary Loan borrowing privileges, and may result in a suspension of circulation privileges and, if you are a USC student, a hold on your registration activities. Failure to return materials on time can damage the relationship of The Anderson Library with the libraries from which we acquire materials and may prevent us from borrowing from those libraries for any of our patrons.
We can usually obtain material within two or three weeks of the request date, depending on which library owns it and can send the item. This includes the time required for the request to be placed by us on the OCLC interlibrary loan requesting system. Once a library agrees to provide a loan or photocopy to us, that library has to retrieve the item from its collection, make a photocopy when necessary, process it for shipping, and ship the item. Time in transit to USC Sumter depends on the method the lending library chooses for shipping. We receive approximately one third of our photocopies via the Internet using a system called Ariel. This advanced technology allows libraries to scan articles, images and other documents into a computer and send them over the Internet to another Ariel workstation. Articles sent by this method may arrive within several days. For books and other materials, many libraries ship materials by fourth class mail, a much slower method.
Any problems in locating lenders or in mail service may cause considerable delay, so you should allow at least three weeks for the delivery of material.
The Interlibrary Loan Department does not submit requests to other libraries between mid-December and the beginning of January.
For Photocopies:
For Books and Other Loans:
We hold all books and other returnable items at the Anderson Library Circulation Desk.
Note: You must have your Anderson Library ID card to pick up all Interlibrary Loan items. This is your USC ID card for students, faculty, and staff, current USC Sumter Alumni Association card for alumni, and Current District ID card for Sumter School District 17 and 2 teachers.
Due Date and Return of Materials
The due date for loans is three weeks from the date the item is
processed in the Interlibrary Loan office, unless otherwise noted. Materials should be
returned to the Circulation Desk on or before the date indicated on the item. We do not recommend
returning Interlibrary Loan material to drop boxes.
Please do not remove the ILL Express! identification sticker on borrowed items. We need it so that we can correctly identify your material when you return it.
Renewals may be requested using ILL Express!, but the final decision on granting a renewal rests with the lending library. Only one renewal per item is allowed.
Regional and Four-Year Campus Shuttle Schedule
Books and photocopies requested from regional and four-year campus libraries through Interlibrary Loan are delivered weekly via the intercampus shuttle. Please allow up to a week from the time you make your request for a book or photocopy to arrive. You may pick up items held at the Anderson Library Circulation Desk according to the following schedule:
Monday: Aiken, Beaufort, Salkehatchie, Hilton Head, and Walterboro.
Tuesday: Sumter
Wednesday: Spartanburg, Lancaster, and Union.
If requested items are not available from the regional and four-year campus libraries, we will order them from other libraries outside the University system, a process which will entail additional time.
You can obtain patents through interlibrary loan at no cost.
Requesting a patent:
Please use ILL Express! to request a patent, providing as much information as possible..
Industry standards are not usually available through normal interlibrary loan channels; instead, they must often be ordered directly from the organization issuing the standard or purchased from a commercial provider.
Please check to be certain that the standard you need is not already available at the Thomas Cooper Library.
Requesting a standard:
Please use ILL Express! to request a standard, providing as much information as possible.
You may find the information about the standard you want by searching the following standards databases:
Theses
You may be able to obtain a thesis through Interlibrary Loan at no charge as most libraries will lend these materials to us.
Dissertations
American Dissertations:
Each library has its own policy regarding the loan of dissertations. The Interlibrary Loan staff can help you determine the availability of dissertations from other libraries.
Foreign Dissertations:
Dissertations produced in other countries (except Canada) are generally more difficult to locate and take longer to obtain, perhaps as long as 6 to 12 months.
Fair use, as determined by Title 17, Copyrights, section 107, allows for the reproduction of copyrighted material for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research. The categories used in determining fair use are:
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
U.S. copyright law, Title 17, Copyrights, United States Code, strictly limits the ability of the Interlibrary Loan staff to obtain journal articles. Under section 108(d), "Limitation on exclusive rights: Reproduction by libraries and archives," libraries are authorized to furnish a photocopy. 108(d)reads:
"The rights of reproduction and distribution under this section apply to a copy, made from the collection of a library or archives where the user makes his or her request or from that of another library or archives, of no more than one article or other contribution to a copyrighted collection or periodical issue, or to a copy or phonorecord of a small part of any other copyrighted work, if-
(1) the copy or phonorecord becomes the property of the user, and the library or archives has had no notice that the copy or phonorecord would be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research; and
(2) the library or archives displays prominently, at the place where orders are accepted, and includes on its order form, a warning of copyright in accordance with requirements that the Register of Copyrights shall prescribe by regulation."
If a patron requests more than one article from one issue of a journal, the Interlibrary Loan staff must pay a copyright fee through the Copyright Clearance Center or must purchase the article from a commercial vendor. If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. The Interlibrary Loan staff reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in our judgment, fulfillment of that order would involve violation of the copyright law.
The National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works (CONTU) has developed a set of guidelines to assist libraries in fulfilling their duties while adhering to copyright law. CONTU guidelines (or the "suggestion of five") permits the copying during a calendar year of no more than five articles from a single journal title, not owned by the library, dated within the past five years. This means that the Interlibrary Loan staff can order a total of only 5 articles from a single journal title dated within the past 5 years regardless of how many users request articles from the same journal title. For articles obtained in excess of this number, the Library must pay a fee to the Copyright Clearance Center or must purchase the articles from a commercial vendor. The Interlibrary Loan staff reserves the right to restrict such purchases.
If you are interested in learning more about these issues, you can visit the Copyright & Fair Use site hosted by Stanford University Libraries.