Interlibrary loans are governed by the Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States of the American Library Association and the policies of the lending institution.

URI's University Libraries do not ordinarily borrow or loan the following types of materials:

• Journals (PDFs of individual articles are available)
• Rare materials, including manuscripts
• Reference materials
• Genealogical materials
• Bulky or fragile materials
• Doctoral dissertations, when readily available from ProQuest
• Materials on Reserve (this could include select audio-visual materials)

In addition, Interlibrary Loan will not accept requests for patents. If URI patrons would like suggestions on how to obtain patents, please contact Reference.

The copyright law of the U.S. places limitations on what may be copied, as well as under what conditions and for what purposes copying may take place. The requesting library is responsible for complying with the provisions of Section 108(g)(2) Copyright Law and the Guidelines for the Proviso of Subsection 108(g)(2) prepared by the National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works (the CONTU Guidelines).

Sufficient time should be allowed for the arrival of print materials from other institutions. In many cases two to five weeks are necessary. Loaned materials may be picked up at the Circulation Desk.

Most periodical articles requested will be delivered electronically. The borrower will receive an email with the requested material as an attachment in PDF format. 

Materials checked out via Interlibrary Loan go out for four weeks. It is the responsibility of the borrower to return materials promptly. Loaned materials can be returned to the Circulation Desk. 

The four week time period applies to items loaned out to non-URI patrons.

If the material is owned by the University Libraries and is checked in but not on the shelf, please contact Interlibrary Loan.

The URI Libraries are bound by any restrictions placed on loans by the lending library. These may include restricting use of the material to within the library building, obtaining the signature of the borrower, and/or prohibiting photocopying.

The University Libraries fully complies with all provisions of Title 17, United States Code (Section 108C).  We reserve the right to protect the University, the Library, and you from charges of copyright infringement by not accepting requests that fail to comply with those copyright provisions.

Please send all inquiries regarding Interlibrary Loan at the University Libraries to this email address:

illriu@gmail.com

In the subject line, please include a brief description of your question.

Example:  Question about G. Woolf's The Life and Death of Ancient Cities

Or, if you know your ILLiad Request #, please include that # instead of a title.

The ILL staff will answer your question once they have reviewed the request.