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University of Southern Maine
Libraries & Learning

Using InterLibrary Loan (ILL)

When is my request ready for me?

When your request is ready, you will receive an e-mail like the one below. It will have the subject line “Requested loan has arrived.” If the item that has arrived is electronic follow the steps immediately below. For physical items you can just pick them up at the library you indicated when submitting the request (see below for a little more detail).

Requested loan has arrived e-mail

Articles, Scan & Deliver, and other electronic materials

  1. Login to ILLiad. The e-mail you received should have a link in it.
  2. You should see a table listing Electronically Received Articles, Checked Out Items, and Outstanding Requests. Click on “ View” to load the PDF. You can also save this PDF to your computer. Depending on your Web browser you may be prompted to save the PDF rather than being shown it.

The main screen showing electronically received articles.

Electronically received materials are only kept for 30 days.

Books, Scores, and other physical materials

After receiving the e-mail letting you know your requested item(s) are available, you can pickup physical items by asking at the first floor desk (circulation desk) and they will have it for you. It's that simple.

Your physical item will come with some paperwork (fig. 1) you need to keep with the item along with a pink slip (fig. 2) indicating the due date.

Papers for return shipping.
Figure 1: Return paperwork that need to be kept with the book.
Pink slip with lending information on it.
Figure 2: Request paperwork that has the due date on it, in this case August 9th