 |
 |
Member Login | My Account | Guest Registry |
 |
 |
| Getting Started | Learning Center | Reference | Publications | Articles & Columns |
| Learn > Articles & Columns > Daily News > Current Article | |
"Along Those Lines ..."
by George G. Morgan
Click Here for George Morgan's Archive
| Using Interlibrary Loan for Genealogical Research--August 21, 1998 |
Every genealogist knows that not every library can have everything. Not even the venerable Library of Congress has a copy of every item we'd like to access for our family research. Fortunately, however, there's something called Interlibrary Loan. Through reciprocal agreements, libraries lend materials to one another, usually at the request of patrons. In this week's "Along Those Lines ..." column, let's discuss what you can and can't gain access to via ILL and what the process is when materials are available for borrowing. What Is Interlibrary Loan? Interlibrary Loan, also known as ILL, is a process through which the materials of a library are made available to other libraries through a loan process. Lending agreements may be facilitated through the auspices of a state library association or through library cooperatives or consortia. Most public and university libraries are participants in ILL agreements. Sometimes archives or historical societies will participate as well. Generally speaking, however, rare, one-of-a-kind, and/or fragile items, are not available for loan. Reference materials in libraries are also usually unavailable for loan. This, unfortunately, often applies to genealogy materials. There are some ways around this, however. There is usually a modest charge associated with the ILL service. How Does ILL Work? Let's say that you become aware of a book that contains information about one of your ancestors. First, you must locate a library that owns the book. You can do this by searching online card catalogs. You'll find that more and more libraries' card catalogs are being made accessible through links on their library's Web page. Check public libraries for certain, but don't overlook college and university libraries. Their collections are usually accessible via ILL as well. There are some other organizations through which you can borrow or rent materials through ILL. These include private libraries such as the National Genealogical Society and the New England Historic Genealogical Society, government organizations -- primarily the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), commercial entities such as the American Genealogical Lending Library (AGLL), and religious institutions such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints through their LDS Family History Centers. Once you identify a library where the book you want is located, write down all the information about the book you can find. This includes author(s), full title, place of publication, name of the publisher, and the date of publication. Make certain you also write down the name of the library and any branch location information. Make careful note of the call number of the book. This could be a Dewey Decimal number or a Library of Congress (LOC) number. Make note, too, of the ISBN (International Standard Book Number). Take the information to the reference or circulation desk of your local library and ask them if they can obtain the book for you through ILL. They will fill out a request form for you and send it via postal mail, fax or e- mail to the library that owns the material. The lending library will respond to the request in one of two ways. If the item is available and in the library, it will be shipped to your library with information about the duration of the loan and any charges associated with it. (Some libraries request payment of the charges in advance and sometimes, if the item requested is very valuable, they may request a deposit.) If an item is not available for circulation, the library may offer to copy specific pages for you for a price. We'll talk about this a little later. You can usually check books out of the library to read and study at home. There are some items, such as microfilm and manuscripts that may be loaned only with the stipulation that they be used only at your library. After you have finished using the item, your library returns it to the lending library. What To Do When a Library Won't Loan Materials Please be understanding about libraries that won't lend some materials, especially those of a genealogical or historical nature. Often an item may be one-of-a-kind or rare and the library doesn't want to risk losing it. Sometimes an item is fragile or brittle, and the risk of damage in shipping or in unsupervised use, is too great. Other times, an item may be in high demand among local patrons and the library doesn't want to loan it. Most common, however, is that genealogical materials are part of a non-circulating collection as defined by the library's board of directors. Just remember that they are doing their best to protect the assets of their own community. You will usually find that, even though a library may not lend specific materials, their staff will do their best to help. For instance, if a book cannot be loaned through ILL, you can certainly request photocopies of all or part of the index. I recently located a book about the HOLDER surname in the Library of Congress collection. I asked my local library to fill out an ILL request for photocopies of a portion of the index. Within 3 weeks, I received a call from my library that the copies had arrived and could be picked up. This is a great way to quickly and less expensively locate items of interest. If the index identifies something you want to read, you can order the book through ILL or you can request photocopies of just those pages you want. There is one strategy you can use with ILL when one library will not loan a book. It may be that a specific book about genealogy in a certain area may be considered too important to be loaned. It is possible that the book may not be so closely held by another library in another part of the country. For example, let's say that if you wanted to borrow a book concerning genealogy in Maryland, you might try to request ILL from a library in another state, such as Illinois or Arizona. It's still possible that it may be part of a non-circulating collection, but you may have a better chance of borrowing it this way than from a library in Maryland. Occasionally a library will fax a copy to your library or scan an image for you. Don't rely on this as an option, however. Many materials are light sensitive and may be damaged by the bright light of a fax and scanner. Charges for ILL Always ask the library staff about any charges associated with ILL. In most cases, when you borrow books, there is not a charge for the service. If there is one, it will be a modest one. Microfilm materials, if borrowed from another library, may also be available at little or no charge. On the other hand, when microfilm materials are requested, they sometimes are only available on a rental basis. You may very well be asked to pay the postage and a rental fee. The fee will usually be small, and you will have use of the microfilm for a number of weeks. Photocopy charges will vary from library to library. In some cases, there may be no charge. In other cases, the per-page photocopy charge may range from 5¢ to 35¢ per copy. (In only one case have I seen a cost of 50¢ per copy.) An invoice usually accompanies the copies. Summary Interlibrary Loan is another way to extend the reach of your genealogical research. Your library can help point you in the right direction and can process the requests for you. Work with your reference and circulating librarians and see what you can accomplish.
Happy hunting! George Click Here for George Morgan's Archive
Copyright 1998 George G. Morgan All Rights reserved "Along Those Lines ..." is a weekly feature of the Genealogy Forum on America Online (Keyword: ROOTS). This column originally appeared in the Genealogy Forum on America Online. You may send E-mail alonglines@aol.com. George Morgan would like
|