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University of Southern Maine
Libraries & Learning

Using InterLibrary Loan (ILL)

Types of Requests

  • Article
  • Book
  • Book Chapter
  • Audio/Video
  • Music Score
  • Conference Paper
  • Report
  • Thesis

Manually Requesting Materials

Sometimes you already have a citation or an item can't be found in LibrarySearch (this happens a lot with books and musical scores). Sometimes the request feature doesn't quite work the way it is intended to. In these cases, you will need to initiate a request manually. Below are two examples: one of an article, the other of a book . Other types of material have similar forms.

Manually Requesting an Article

Say you needed to request the following APA-style reference:
Sullivan, T. A. (1982). Introducing Sociology Through Literature. Teaching Sociology, 10(1), 109-116.

Select Article from the New Requests menu.

New Requests Menu with article item selected.

The following information is required by the form, but fill in as much non-required information as you can.

  • Title (Journal, Conference Proceedings, Anthology)
    • Enter the Journal Title here, e.g., Teaching Sociology
  • Article Title
    • Enter the Title of the Article, e.g., Introducing Sociology Through Literature.
  • Article Author
    • Enter the Author(s), e.g., Sullivan, T. A.
  • Volume
    • Enter the Volume number, e.g., 10.
  • Issue Number or Designation
    • Enter the Issue number, e.g., 1.
  • Year
    • Enter the Year, e.g., 1982.
  • Inclusive Pages
    • Enter the page range you need, e.g., 109-116.
  • Max Cost
    • We recommend you leave this to zero / $0.00

If you are missing a piece of required information, like volume number, you can write 'n/a' or 'missing'. Sometimes articles that don't have print copies also don't have page numbers, use 'n/a' here, too. If you are not sure about whether you've filled the form in correctly or not, you can ask for help or paste your reference citation in the notes field as a ward against confusion.

Manually Requesting a Book

Similarly, if you have the following APA-style book reference:
Mills, C. W. (1959). The Sociological Imagination. Oxford University Press.

Select Book from the New Request menu. New Request Menu with book selected

The following information is required by the form, but fill in as much non-required information as you can.

  • Author/Editors
    • Enter the Author(s), or Editor(s), if it is an edited book/anthology. E.g., Mills, C. W.
  • Title
    • Enter the Title here, e.g., The Sociological Imagination.
  • Not Wanted After Date
  • Max Cost
    • We recommend you set this to zero / $0.00
  • Campus Pick Up Location
    • Pick the campus where you wish to pick up the book.

If you are missing a piece of required information, like volume number, you can write 'n/a' or 'missing'. Sometimes articles that don't have print copies also don't have page numbers, use 'n/a' here, too. If you are not sure about whether you've filled the form in correctly or not, you can ask for help or paste your reference citation in the notes field as a ward against confusion.