Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is the sharing of materials between libraries. What that means for you is that you have a much wider selection of books and materials to choose from- it is a convenient way for you to check out books that are not available at Marion County Public Library. Currently, we request books from public and college libraries within the state of Kentucky only.
Requesting an interlibrary loan is easy! Here’s what it takes:
- You must have a current library card with Marion County Public Library and no overdue materials or fines.
- You will need to fill out a request form which you will find at the circulation desk or online by clicking here. Please fill out the form completely, including your current phone number and email if available.
Book requests take between 2 to 4 weeks to arrive, depending on the source of the material. When the book arrives, you will be notified by phone or email and you will have 1 week to pick up the item. If we are unable to find the item that you requested, you will receive a courtesy call or email to let you know.
All interlibrary loans have a checkout period of 14 days and are usually non-renewable. If there is a valid need to renew your interlibrary loan, please contact us several days before the due date and we will seek permission from the lending library. Interlibrary Loan works because participating libraries honor each other’s policies and due dates. Timely return of ILL materials assures that we will continue to be able to borrow from other libraries at little or no cost to you. Keeping an ILL book beyond the due date jeopardizes our ability to borrow from that lender in the future, and may make important materials unavailable to other interlibrary borrowers.
Some restrictions will be placed on the types of materials requested through interlibrary loan. MCPL will not try to borrow the following:
- Genealogy records
- Current titles published within the past year
- Titles which MCPL owns or has on order (please check our catalog before requesting)
- Reference, Special Collections or Archives materials,
Any overdue fines or replacement costs for lost or damaged Interlibrary Loan materials are the responsibility of the patron.
*Although we cannot borrow genealogy materials, sometimes we can request scans of the material. In order to do this, please specify which page numbers you need or include the people you are looking for.
If you have any questions regarding Interlibrary Loan feel free to call the library or email Devin.Weaver@marioncopublic.org