Interlibrary loan (ILL) enables Portland Community College (PCC) students, faculty, and staff to obtain journal articles, books, and other types of materials that are not available through PCC Library or Summit. The owning library determines whether a particular item can be provided. Regional agreements regulating ILL and federal copyright law also place limitations on the types of materials that may be borrowed, as well as the number of articles that can be requested from journals. Articles will be delivered as PDFs that can be downloaded from your library account. Textbooks are not available via ILL. Additional information about requesting library materials not owned by PCC Library can be found on Requesting Library Materials. Note: A link to a blank ILL form for requesting books or articles can be found at the top of the library catalog screen.
Who can use ILL? PCC faculty, staff, and currently enrolled students are eligible. Because ILL can be expensive, PCC requests that employees working on degrees at other institutions use the loan system provided by that institution. Community patrons, retirees, and alumni are not eligible. Are there any limits to what can be borrowed? Textbooks are not available through ILL. Please talk to your instructor and suggest they place a copy of the textbook on reserve Physical requests: 50 item loan & request limit Digital requests: No limit on the number of requests, but copyright guidelines and institutional rules have limits on what and how much can be borrowed Is there a cost for borrowing materials? Costs are determined by the lending library. Free sources are used when available, but some items are only available from libraries that charge. Costs typically range from $11 to $35. Please indicate the maximum amount you are willing to spend for each item on the ILL form. Setting this price is approval for charges to be automatically applied to your PCC account. If charges are applicable, and if you authorize them on the request form, they will be sent directly to your account in the College business office and you will be responsible for payment. How are users informed when ILL items are ready to be picked up? Physical item – Users will receive a notice via MyPCC email indicating that the ILL item has arrived and how long the library will keep it on the hold shelf. Electronic article or book chapter – Users will receive an email with instructions on how to access the article by logging into your account. Once you have logged into your account, you will see a “download” option for the article you requested. How long will it take to receive ILL requests? Requests submitted during working hours are processed the same day when possible. Articles and book chapter scans will be delivered within a day or so (may be longer on weekends). Physical books and beyond: Depending on where your requested item is coming from, it may take a week or more to receive the material. Delivery time depends on the location of the lending library. Materials from Pacific NW libraries can be expected within two to four days for articles, and up to two weeks for books. Items from libraries in other parts of the country may take longer. If the material is available in Portland and surrounding areas it may be quicker for users to request the item directly from the lending library and pick it up there. To do this, you will need to sign up for an account with these libraries. Regional public libraries include Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington County or the Fort Vancouver Regional Library. Materials can be picked up at all Orbis-Cascade Alliance member institution libraries, but you will need to be adopted as a patron at those libraries before you can pick them up there. See Summit visiting patron program for more information. What does the "status" of a request mean? Ready to be sent – The request is waiting to be sent to the borrower. Delivered/Physically received by the Library – PCC Library has received the item. Request sent to partner – The request was sent to the borrowing library, and the borrowing library is processing the request. Canceled by staff – The borrowing library is not fulfilling the request. How long do ILL items check out for? ILL items are usually checked out for 16 weeks with no renewal Summit items check out for 6 weeks with 1 renewal What does a recall message mean? A recall means that the item is needed by the lending institution. If an item is recalled, its immediate return is expected or charges will be incurred. What are the fines for overdue ILL items? There is no fine for overdue ILL items. Lost or damaged ILL materials are subject to a $90 lost/damaged fee. Who should be contacted about problems or questions about ILL? For any questions about ILL, contact intlib@pcc.edu or call 971-722-7190. Copyright restrictions The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research”. If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use”, that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law. Per Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Code, libraries may provide one article, per issue, per patron without requesting copyright permission. For the second and subsequent copies, the library must request copyright permission and the borrower will need to pay royalties. No more than five copies of articles from a periodical title in a given calendar year. Starting with the sixth copy, copyright permission and royalty fees may be required. Book chapters or other small portions of non-periodical works may be received by a library during the entire period of the copyright of the book. The library will evaluate whether the copies requested would substitute for the purchase of the book. Any copyright charges are the responsibility of the borrower. Not finding what you need? Send a request to the library