Ordering Books and Articles (ILL)

Health Sciences Center faculty, staff and students may request interlibrary loans through the Shimberg Library ILL department for materials, which are not available in the Shimberg Library.

Users can order interlibrary loans online by filling out the USF Request Form found on the Library Forms page, or by filling out a print request form, available at the Circulation Desk.

Interlibrary loans articles are delivered to users by e-mail, mail or fax.
Books must be picked up at the Library.

E-Mail Delivery

We can only deliver articles by e-mail to those USF patrons who have HSC or USF E-Mail accounts.  PDF files are extremely large files and we have found that free accounts such as Hot Mail, Yahoo and some AOL accounts do not have sufficient storage space to handle these files.

• Articles are scanned, converted into Acrobat PDF format and stored on a Library web server.
• You are notified by email when your article is available.
• Simply click on the link provided in the body of the email message to read, print and/or download your article.
• Please keep a copy of the e-mail that supplies the link to your article. We will be unable to provide the link again.
• Adobe Acrobat reader 4.0 or higher is required to view the documents.
• You will have access to your article for 14 days after youare notified. During that time you may view, print and/or download it. Once 14 days have passed, it will be automatically deleted from our server.
• Be sure to give us an email address that you will check regularly, so that you will know when your articles come in and can view them promptly.
• Also be careful to coordinate your ordering and your vacations/leaves so that the article does not arrive at inappropriate time.
• If you cannot immediately access the article, please try again later.

• The delivery time depends on the speed of the lending library.
• The average delivery time is 7-10 days though some can be delivered in three days and others take much longer.
• Books will take longer than articles because they must be delivered by mail.
• RUSH delivery can generally be accomplished in one day but there is a charge for the service.

• The Shimberg Library does not charge for regular ILL service. However, sometimes the lending library issues a charge for the item. If that happens, the cost is passed on to faculty and staff members.
• HSC students are subsidized for up to 20 ILLs a week or a total of 100 per term. If the student needs more, exceptions can be made. Contact ILL librarian, Jo Ella Young, at jyoung@hsc.usf.edu
• There is an $8 charge for RUSH requests. Plus any charge assessed by the lending library.
• There is a $3 surcharge for photocopies delivered by fax.
• Users who wish to charge to a department must follow certain audit procedures. Please call the Circulation Desk at 974-2123 for instruction in these procedures.

If you need further information, please contact Jo Ella Young, Interlibrary Loan Librarian at jyoung@hsc.usf.edu

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Comments/Questions:
Webmaster, John Scott joscott@hsc.usf.edu

Last Update: January 12, 2005