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Interlibrary Loan Guide: Request an Article

Describing the policies and procedures of Curry Library’s Interlibrary Loan (ILL) services, including MOBIUS and Prospector.

Copyright Limitations on Requesting Articles

Depending on an article's publication date and other factors, there may be limits in U.S. Copyright Law on which articles the library is able to request. If such limits exist, the library will inform the requester after an article request is made. 

For more information, please visit the Copyright Information page linked below.

Best Practices on Locating an Article

It is always best to search for a copy of a desired article in the library's digital holdings first before requesting an article through Interlibrary Loan. To search for an article in the library's digital holdings, follow these steps. 

1. Try searching for the article by title in Discovery. To access Discovery, use the search widget below or access from the library homepage.

EBSCO Discovery Service
Limit Your Results

2. Try searching for the article's journal using the journal's title or international standard serial number (ISSN) in the Publication Finder tool. To access the tool, use the search widget below or click on the "Journal Search" link in the "Research Services" menu on the library homepage. 

Search: Library Publications
Limit Your Results

3. If an article is not available directly through the library, try searching for the article's title in a search engine such as Google or on an open access website such as MyResearch.org. If there is a copy freely available online, the library will try to link to it first in a place of requesting an article through Interlibrary Loan whenever possible. Incorporating this step into your search may save you time and effort in locating your desired article.  

Requesting an Article

When searching in Discovery, if you do not limit your results to "Full Text Article Only" your results will include article citation and abstract records. There will be an option in the summary of each record to request that article via Interlibrary Loan. To begin that request, click on the "Request this item through Interlibrary Loan" link. 

Once you click on the link, the item's information will pre-fill into the form. If there is any information about the article you do not have access to, include the phrase "unsure" or "N/A." After all available information has been included, add your contact information to the form and click "Submit."

Submitted ILL requests will be reviewed and fulfilled by library employees within 24 business hours. When a request is processed, a confirmation email will be sent to your William Jewell College email address. Depending on a number of factors including the article's publication date and willing lenders, article requests are generally fulfilled within 3-5 business days.

When the library receives the requested article it will be emailed directly to your William Jewell College email address. Copies of the article are only kept for 30 days on the library's systems, so please download to your own computer at your earliest convenience. 

If there are issues with your request, such as no available lenders or incomplete citation information, you will be contacted directly by the library. 

If you locate an article online or in a bibliography that you wish to request, you may request it directly via the ILL Article Request Form available on the library homepage or linked below. 

In the request form, fill in all of the desired article's required information. Most of this information may be obtained from an article's citation or publisher's page. If there is any information about the article you do not have access to, include the phrase "unsure" or "N/A." After all available information has been included, add your contact information to the form and click "Submit."

Submitted ILL requests will be reviewed and fulfilled by library employees within 24 business hours. When a request is processed, a confirmation email will be sent to your William Jewell College email address. Depending on a number of factors including the article's publication date and willing lenders, article requests are generally fulfilled within 3-5 business days.

When the library receives the requested article it will be emailed directly to your William Jewell College email address. Copies of the article are only kept for 30 days on the library's systems, so please download to your own computer at your earliest convenience. 

If there are issues with your request, such as no available lenders or incomplete citation information, you will be contacted directly by the library.