Document Delivery

One of the many services that Tisch Library offers to students, staff and faculty is interlibrary loan and document delivery to borrow materials that we do not own from other libraries.

Interlibrary Loan or ILL as it is more commonly known is a service where you can ask the Tisch Library Document Delivery office to request a book, journal article, microfilm. Conference proceeding or just about any other type of document from another library at no cost to you! Yes, you heard me correctly – it is free!

There are two ways to request materials. So let’s pause here and go online to Tisch Library Borrowing From Other Libraries link http://www.library.tufts.edu/tisch/otherlib.htm

On this page you will see a list of interlibrary loan choices. Let’s talk about the first choice you see the Boston Library Consortium Virtual Catalog, other wise known as the BLC Virtual Catalog.

This online catalog contains the holdings of the BLC Libraries that participate in the Virtual Catalog. Boston College, Brandeis, MIT and UMass Amherst are not participants. (However, you can request books from these institution libraries via the other ILL service, ILLIAD.) Most books will be received within 3-5 days. Each BLC library determines which items in its collections are available for loan. You request books by clicking on the link, then selecting your home library. Tisch Library is the home library for Arts, Sciences and Engineering students, faculty and staff. Then type in the barcode that is on the back if you’re Tufts ID, the numbers start with 290… then choose “enter”. On the Patron Main Menu choose the Searching/Requesting button; you will come to the Search menu. Here you can search by title, author, ISBN or Library of Congress Subject Heading. Let’s pause here so you can log-on and search for a book.

The combined results screen will show you which libraries hold the book you searched, Scroll down to get to the chart that gives the title, author, publication year and location information. Next to each title is a request button. Choose one of these to begin the Virtual Catalog process.

At the create request screen, fill out the form as directed, ignoring the “notes for Librarian to Review”, as this could lengthen the time it takes to get your book! Then choose the Submit Request button and when the book arrives you will be notified by an email to pick it up at your “home library”. When you are finished with the book, just return it to your “home library”!