Interlibrary Loan
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a resource foundation for UW-Madison students, faculty, and staff to get free access to materials needed for various coursework and research initiatives. The UW-Madison Libraries consistently rank at the top among peer institutions with respect to supplementing local collections in order to meet the needs of the UW-Madison community.
“The UW-Madison Libraries have been leaders in resource sharing for many years. The demands for lending library materials from our extensive collections as well as borrowing from other institutions continues to rise,” said Vice Provost for Librarians and University Librarian Ed Van Gemert. “We depend upon institutional partnerships for timely and efficient resource sharing. Interlibrary loan staff deserve credit for continuously improving the design of the systems and the workflows needed to make the process seamless and efficient for the user. The improvements made over the years have been significant and very much appreciated by library patrons.”
The system allows individuals to request materials, whether that be a book, article, book chapter, or even music and video materials from sources outside of the UW-Madison or UW System collections. Individuals eligible for ILL services can simply access the Interlibrary Loan’s website, put their request for specific materials in, and wait for them to arrive.
“Interlibrary Loan serves as a key bridge between students and faculty on our campus and library collections around the country,” noted Doug Way, Associate University Librarian for Collections and Research Service. “As libraries increasingly partner with other institutions around coordinated access to information resources, interlibrary loan will only become even more important.”
The services that the ILL brings to the UW-Madison campus are a great tool in accessing information on a large scale. ILL helps to make world of information feel a lot closer to home for its students, faculty, and staff.