Policies

Through our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service, current Wentworth students, faculty, and staff may borrow materials from other libraries. These materials include physical items, such as books and DVDs, as well as electronic copies of items, such as journal articles and scanned book chapters.

If an item is not owned by the Schumann Library, and it is not otherwise available to Wentworth community members through the Fenway Libraries Online (FLO) catalog, it can be requested by submitting an Interlibrary Loan Request form. Library staff will then attempt to locate a library that is able to provide us with the item for you. All requests must be submitted by completing the request form.

Please note that the Schumann Library is unable to provide ILL services to alumni, who should contact their local public libraries.

The following types of materials cannot be requested through Interlibrary Loan:

• Electronic copies and scanned copies of journal articles and book chapters, taken from journals and books owned by the Schumann Library, unless they are missing, in mending, or have been loaned to another library through ILL.
• More than one journal article from any single issue of a journal that was published within the past five years.
• More than a single scanned book chapter, or more than a scan of 10% of a single book (whichever is greater).
• Computer Files, E-Audio Books, E-Serials, E-Texts, and Internet Resources.
• Anything that would require not adhering to copyright law, or to the Interlibrary Loan Code of the United States.

Please note that physical items borrowed through ILL may not be placed on course reserve. Faculty can request that new items be purchased for this purpose by submitting a Course Reserve Request Form.

The length of time needed to obtain materials varies, and depends upon factors such as request volume, the number of potential providers, staffing patterns and workload at providing libraries, and for physical items, the distance of the providing library, and the efficiency of the postal or courier system. ILL staff will process your requests as quickly as possible, and will search for libraries that can provide items promptly. Please place your requests as soon as possible.

The Schumann Library cannot guarantee that every request will be filled. There is always the possibility that an item may not be held in any library, or that an item is so rare or in-demand that no one will lend it.

For physical items, the providing libraries will determine due dates. They will also determine if renewals are allowed. Each item must be returned by its due date, unless renewals are allowed, and you have submitted a renewal request to the ILL staff BEFORE the due date.

Items sent to you electronically have no due date, and do not need to be returned.

Borrowed items are subject to being recalled by the libraries that supplied them. A recalled item must be returned immediately, so that it can be sent back to the lender. If the item is still needed, ILL staff, upon request, will attempt to obtain another copy from a different library.

A providing library may require that you use a physical item only within the Schumann Library. In-library use restrictions are not common, and generally apply only to rare, valuable, or fragile material.

NOTICE: WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy of other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.