We try to always have what our patrons are looking for, but with the amount of works being published it’s an impossible goal to achieve. Luckily, hope is not lost when the book or movie you’re looking for is not in our collection! We have two options for you: 1) you can request that we purchase the item and add it to the collection; or 2) you can request an inter-library loan (ILL).
The decision on whether to purchase items our patrons request is made based on whether other patrons will want to check the items out in addition to consideration for expense and availability. We like to get what our patrons want, so requesting items is a good way to make sure your needs are met.
There is no decision to be made on our part about an ILL. For this process (which does have a postage fee of $3 per item), we simply ask another library to loan us the item you’ve requested so that we can loan it to you. If it is possible for us to get the item you want or need from another library, we will do everything in our power to do so.
Jacinda is our inter-library loan guru and has doggedly tracked down many items that our patrons thought were unfindable. Self-published books often difficult to find, but beyond those we have really great luck getting what you need from another library. We even had a loan come to us from the Library of Congress. We do about 100 ILLs per year, most of them are borrowing items for our patrons. Occasionally, another library will ask us for something, but because our collection is relatively small that doesn’t happen too often.
Requesting an ILL is fairly easy. Once you know the item you need is not in our collection, you can come in or call us to request that we look for it in another library. You can also log into your account online and request it through there.