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Delivery: Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery

Everything you need to know about the library's Interlibrary Loans (ILL) and document delivery department.

ILL & Document Delivery: You Request, We Deliver!

Did you know that 98% of all items our patrons request are either shipped directly to their office or delivered via e-mail? Translation: You don't need to come to the library to get library books!

Sometimes we have what you need (check our holdings in the Library Catalog ) and it is convenient for you to pick them up in-person. More often we are asked to ship items via Inter-office mail or scan and send what we can electronically. We do that daily. 

Occasionally we don't have what you need at all. Don't worry, we can almost always deliver the book or article you need "for free" through our Interlibrary Loans (ILL) Service. Translation: If we don't own it we can still get a copy!

VDOT patrons can use this ILL & Document Delivery Request Form to send us the citation for any published item you need. 

Depending on what you ask for, we might ship a copy from our collections, we might scan an article or a chapter and send it electronically, or we might borrow it from another library. Want to "check out" a book from our collections and have us ship it to you with just a few clicks? Use the "Request Item" feature of the Library Catalog. That's the little "shopping cart" icon that appears at the bottom of each record in the catalog.  It looks like this: 

 

You'll need a Library Card to use the "request" feature (and of course we can't ship an E-book or online document, but we can help you figure out how to use them!). Don't have a Library Card? Request one now.

What's An Interlibrary Loan?

Libraries share books through an amazing service called Interlibrary Loans (ILL). VDOT patrons may use this ILL & Document Delivery Request Form to request any item we do not own. Book requests typically take 3-5 business days to fill, are shipped to us first, and then re-shipped to VDOT employees statewide. Articles usually take 1-5 business days to fill and are often sent electronically. 

How ILL Works: We use special software to find items in libraries worldwide, and we place copyright-compliant requests to borrow on your behalf. We usually send a request to 3-5 libraries at a time. Each library has a few days to fill or decline the request. If declined, it request rolls to the next library in line. If all libraries decline, we select another group of lenders and repeat. In FY15 we had more than 500 ILL transactions: Libraries VDOT loaned to and Libraries VDOT borrowed from.
Other Libraries: We will consider ILL requests from any library. Our OCLC lending symbol is TDG and all lending polices are in the OCLC Policies Directory. If your library does not participate in OCLC we can still consider your request. Check our Library Catalog first to be sure we have what need (and that it has no lending restrictions), and submit requests using this Request Form for Non-OCLC Libraries

Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery FAQ

Request a Document

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Amy Skretta
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VDOT Research Library
530 Edgemont Rd.
Charlottesville, VA
22903
434-293-1959
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