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Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and Document Delivery

ILL and document delivery are services offered to faculty, students, and staff at the University of Alabama. This guide explains how to request materials.

Introduction to Document Delivery

Document Delivery offers Book Express and Article Express for UA faculty, staff and students for items held by UA Libraries. Request materials from the Annex, Gorgas Library, Bruno Business Library, the McLure Education Library and Rodgers Library for Science & Engineering.  Book Express allows for patrons to request print, AVS, and microform materials to be placed on hold for pick up at the library of choice.  Article Express allows for patrons to have print materials scanned and delivered electronically. 

Book Express

Request books, DVDs, CDs, microforms, or Annex materials to be placed on hold at the library of your choice.  This excludes special collections materials, ready reference materials and some periodicals.

Making a Request

To have print, AVS, microform or Annex materials retrieved, place a request from your ILLiad account.

  1. Search for your item in SCOUT.
  2. Click on the “Request this” tab located at the bottom of screen. This will take you to the catalog record.
  3. Click “Request Item” on the right side of the screen.
  4. Log into your ILLiad account and choose the Document Delivery form for a loan (physical item): Doc Delivery – Loan (UA Libraries Collection).
  5. Complete the required fields in the form and submit.

Delivery Time

Requests located on the shelf will be filled within 24-48 hours. When your item is ready, you will receive an email to pick your item up at the library you have chosen.  The item will be held for 10 business days.

If your requested item is not available on the shelf, we will borrow it from another library.  Delivery time will depend upon the availability of the item from the requested libraries.

Intra-Campus Mail Delivery for Faculty  

Faculty can requests to have materials sent via intra-campus to their campus mailbox. This excludes periodicals, special collection materials,  microforms, oversized materials, and items borrowed from other Universities. 

Requests will be delivered within 48 - 72 hours.  If items are needed sooner, you can retrieve the items directly from the stacks and check out at the Circulation desks or self-checkout machines. 

Materials Located in other UA Campus Libraries
(Bounds Law Library and the Health Sciences Library)

Document Delivery does not include items located at the Bounds Law Library and the Health Sciences Library.  For materials located in these libraries, please contact the respective library for assistance.

Article Express

Don’t have time to go the library and copy materials?  Article Express provides scans from print and microform collections. To comply with U.S. copyright law, only one book chapter or one article per journal issue is allowed per request. 

Making a Request

To have materials scanned and delivered electronically, place a request from your ILLiad account.

  1. Search for your item in SCOUT.
  2. Click on the “Request this” tab located at the bottom of screen. This will take you to the catalog record.
  3. Click “Get It Now” on the right side of the screen.
  4. Log into your ILLiad account and choose the Document Delivery form for copy: Doc Delivery – Copy (UA Libraries Collection).
  5. Complete the required fields in the form and submit.

Delivery Time     

Requests are filled within 24-48 hours. When your item is ready, you will receive an email with a link to your PDF scan in your ILLiad account.  The PDF scan will be under “Received Copies” located in the menu on the left side of the screen.

Electronic items will remain accessible for 30 days from the date of posting. 

Copyright Restrictions

Scans are subject to copyright restrictions. The Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order, if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law.

Materials Available for Scan 

  • Journal Articles
  • Book Chapters
  • Articles and Documents in Microformats
  • Tables of Contents & Indexes

Reasons for Unfilled Requests

When we are unable to fill your requests via Document Delivery or via borrowing from another library, we will notify you by email. There may be various reasons for an unfilled request:

  1. Item is unavailable on shelf and unavailable via borrowing from another institution.
  2. Item cited does not match the holding selected in the catalog, i.e. the volume selected from the catalog does not match the volume cited in your request.
  3. Violation of Copyright (see copyright restrictions)
  4. Item located in Special Collections.

Materials Located in other UA Campus Libraries
(Bounds Law Library and the Health Sciences Library)

Document Delivery does not include items located at the Bounds Law Library and the Health Sciences Library.  For materials located in these libraries, please contact the respective library for assistance.  

 

 

Annex Document Delivery

Materials from the Annex can be requested and delivered to the University Libraries for pick up.  Journal articles or book chapters in materials at the Annex can be scanned and sent electronically to your UA email account.  

External Document Delivery

Items beyond UA Libraries

If the book or article you want is not at UA Libraries, request it through Interlibrary Loan via your ILLiad account. We will attempt to locate it using one of our document delivery vendors. If fees are excessive we may contact you regarding options.  When requesting an item that is not in the UA online catalog, please provide as much citation information as possible to ensure that the request is filled quickly and accurately.

 

Request Statuses

Submitted by Customer: Request has been submitted by UA patron via a the ILLiad portal

Awaiting Request Processing: Request is routed to the Document Delivery module

Awaiting Document Delivery Processing: Request is ready for ILL staff to view and start the Doc. Del. process

Request in Processing: lLL staff is checking availability of requested item in UA libraries catalog

Awaiting DD Stacks Searching: Request is being routed to UA branch libraries if necessary 

In DD Stacks Searching: ILL staff searches for and retrieves items from UA Libraries collection

Item Found: The requested item has been found and is ready to be put on hold for the patron

In Transit to Pickup Location: Depending upon the pickup location chosen, the item is in transit to the circulation hold shelf of the library chosen  or en route to campus mailbox delivery (faculty only).

Awaiting Doc Del Customer Contact: Item availability e-mail is ready to be sent to the patron

Doc Del Customer Notified via E-Mail: Patron has been notified that the requested item can now be picked up at the circulation desk of the owning library    

Routed from Document Delivery to Borrowing: The requested item has not been found in our collection and will be requested from another library

Submitted by Customer: Request has been submitted by UA patron via a the ILLiad portal

Awaiting Copyright Clearance: Copyright restriction are being viewed and may apply for article/chapter requests

Awaiting Doc Del Scanning: The requested chapter/ article has been found and is ready to be scanned/copied and downloaded

Odyssey Document Received: The chapter/article has been downloaded and is ready to be sent electronically

Delivered to Web: The article/chapter has been delivered to the patron’s ILL account and can be viewed in the “Received Copy” tab

Contact

Location:Gorgas Library, Floor 2
Telephone: (205) 348-4018
Fax: (205) 348-9564
Email: illstaff@ua.edu
Hours: Document Delivery material can be picked up all hours that the library is open.

Members of ILL staff are available Monday through Friday from 8 am – 5 pm.

Mailing address

University of Alabama Libraries 
Gorgas Library/ ILL RM #2007
P.O. Box 870266
711 Capstone Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0266

Contact an individual

ILL Supervisor

Cornelia Davis

Circulation Services Manager
Access Services

205-348-3417
205-348-9564 (fax)
cdavis@ua.edu

Document Delivery

Bettye Toney

Library Assistant II
Interlibrary Loan

205-348-7344
205-348-9564 (fax)
bjtoney@ua.edu

Borrowing

Amanda Rogers

Library Assistant II
Interlibrary Loan

205-348-2366
205-348-9564 (fax)
alrogers8@ua.edu

Billing/ILL Information Desk

Rebekah Olmstead

Library Assistant III
Interlibrary Loan

205-348-4018
205-348-9564 (fax)
rebekaho@ua.edu

Lending to Other Libraries/Distance Ed

Gaby Marcks

Library Assistant III
Interlibrary Loan

205-348-7368
205-348-9564 (fax)
gmarcks@ua.edu

RapidILL

Alina Amstutz

Library Assistant II
Interlibrary Loan

205-348-6345
205-348-9564 (fax)
adamstutz@ua.edu