Interlibrary Loan FAQs

• Please continue to submit ILL requests into ILLiad.
• Copies/Scans for Articles/Pages: We will do our best to process requests for scans or pages out of periodicals, newspapers, books and other compilation works. Turnaround time may be longer than under normal circumstances (which was one to three business days).
  • If we are unable to find a library that can accommodate your request, you will be notified. You may then reach out to the Reference Desk to assist you in identifying an alternate source.
• Entire Books: Requests will be reviewed first for temporary ebook options. If none is available, the request will be forwarded to the Associate Director for Research & Collection Development for ebook license acquisition.
  • We are unable to accommodate requests for books requested for leisure purposes. Such requests will be cancelled while the Law Library remains under business continuity.
• Most of this guide's content may not be applicable while the Law Library operates under business contintuiy.

Publishers have generously responded to these unprecedented times by making available some of their electronic materials, without charge or requiring a subscription, or by expanding the e-collections accessible through the Law Library existing licenses. Because the publishers' approach to expanding accessibility varies, verifying if a citation is accessible to you will take some trial and error.

1. Always feel free to contact the library for reference help.
2. Try adding the following EZProxy prefix before the full URL (before https://) to an article found on the web: http://proxygt-law.wrlc.org/login?url=
3. Search through our Database Directory, using mega-indexers like EBSCO, Proquest, Proquest Ebook Central, ScienceDirect, etc.
4. Check these web guides, inventory lists and organizations for temporary, free e-access options during COVID-19:
   • Law Library's FAQ During Instructional/Business Continuity, useful for e-format options for casebooks, study aids or supplements & textbooks. Some options may require you to contact the vendor for access or create a temporary account using your GULC email.
   • Lauinger Library's Temporary Access to Electronic Resources During Instructional Continuity, useful for publishers of interdisciplinary publications. Some options are expansions of Georgetown's existing institutional subscriptions and may require your GULC credentials to access.
   • Other temporary expanded services not listed in the above guides include:
     • Library of Congress Open Access collection
     • HathiTrust. For materials that are available for "Temporary Access," log into HathiTrust by first selecting Georgetown University as a partner institution and then entering your GULC credentials. (DUO authentication may be required). There are digitized materials in their catalog that will not be available as full-text.
     • Ohio State University Press: Copy the latter URL handle off the sheet and paste it into a web browser. If that doesn't give you full-text access, you may also try adding the Law Library's EZProxy prefix (http://proxygt-law.wrlc.org/login?url=) before the URL handle.
   • Public Books Database offers a curated list of publishers offering some of their e-content for free, without requiring an existing institutional subscription, and maybe accessed outside of GULC's EZProxy.
   • Yale University's COVID-19's Temporary Free Resources also provides lists of publishers as well as spreadsheets of temporary, expanded e-access offerings. Bear in mind that any university-specific instructions to gain access to electronic materials would not apply to you. When you find a resource following the links found in Yale's guide and it asks for a login, paste the EZProxy prefix (http://proxygt-law.wrlc.org/login?url=) before the found website to direct you to the Law Library's login.

Keep in mind that the publishers' special offerings are temporary and publishers have set different end dates. Download, print, or take screen shots as soon as you access a full-text during your search. Do not assume that full-text access will continue to be available the next day.

In response to COVID-19, the Law Center campus and the Law Library building are closed and all staff are working remotely. Other universities and their libraries have followed a similar continuity practice and have closed their buildings, reduced their on-site ILL staffing, or closed off access to their physical collections.

This means that:

• No physical items can be borrowed via Interlibrary Loan (requests for entire books will be converted to e-book license acquisition if possible)
• We cannot recommend that you visit a local library to make scans of materials yourself
• It's more difficult to find libraries that may carry a needed title and happen to have the ILL capacity to make scans, if no e-alternative is available
• Scans of citations that only exist on microfilm (such as older newspapers) would be difficult, or maybe impossible, to obtain
• Lengthy scanning requests, which were not accepted under normal circumstances, will not be considered by potential suppliers (these requests will be converted to e-license acquisitions if possible)
• Other ILL offices, even if staffed, do not have the capacity to perform research on our behalf and cannot accommodate requests to peruse a work to locate an obscure citation

Your patience and understanding are appreciated.