  erving a diverse community of library users requires a broad collection. In the information age, when thousands of new books, periodicals, microforms, and digital resources appear each year, even Penn State's University Libraries, with the millions of titles in its collections, cannot possibly have everything a student, professor, or researcher is seeking. That's where Interlibrary Loan comes in. Books, journals, and other library materials not found in the Libraries may be requested through Interlibrary Loan (ILL). ILL relies heavily on agreements with the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) and the Research Libraries Group (RLG) to obtain items for faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduates writing a thesis. To augment Penn State's already sizable collections, ILL requests items from a vast network of institutions from as far away as Africa, Russia, and Australia. In 1990, Interlibrary Loan processed 12,788 requests for materials not owned by Penn State. By 1996 the yearly total had almost doubled, to 22,853--that's over 85 requests processed every working day! In the spirit of cooperation common among research libraries, Penn State also makes its materials available to other institutions. Last year alone Interlibrary Loan received over 100,000 requests from libraries throughout the world. Requests for material may be submitted on an "Interlibrary Loan Request Form," copies of which are available from ILL and all Libraries service desks. Completed forms should be submitted to the Interlibrary Loan office, Room 107 East Pattee, or to the service desks in other locations. Requests for material may also be submitted via e-mail (addressed to getit@psulias.psu.edu), via FAX (814-865-7001), or via electronic forms on the ILL Web site at: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/pubinfo/interlibloan.html.
The Interlibrary Loan office is open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. |
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