Interlibrary Loan Instructions for Research Assistants

Interlibrary Loan Instructions for Research Assistants

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Where to submit an Interlibrary Loan request

Submit requests through the Law Library's ILLiad system. The link can be found under Student Resources on the Law Library's home page.

Be Careful: Do not mistakenly submit an ILLiad request through main campus Lauinger Library's version of the ILL system (accessed through Lauinger Library web pages). If you do, then this Law Library ILL service will not be able to assist you if you have any questions or concerns about your request. Lauinger Library's policy will cover the items you obtain using their ILL service. Lauinger Library's ILL policies & their ILLiad system and this Law Library's ILL policies & our ILLiad system are not interchangeable.

Tips: To avoid mistaking Lauinger Library's ILL with this ILL service, always start with your Law Library's home page to seek out library services. Bookmark the page!

The Law Library's ILLiad system URL will start with gulaw.hosts.atlas-sys.com. Main campus Lauinger Library's ILLiad system URL will start with: illiad.library.georgetown.edu. Do not Google "Georgetown ILL" and expect to be correctly led to the Law Library's ILLiad system.

When to Use Interlibrary Loan Service as a Research Assistant

  • When you need to borrow a book when a copy is not in the Law Library & local academic libraries, or if the copy is held only by a local law library, checked out, lost or missing, or if there is no law student access to an e-version.
    • While in Advanced Search, Journal Finder or Search by Citation, click on the Interlibrary Loan tab to access ILLiad or use the Request book, chapter, or article through Interlibrary Loan (ILL) option in a catalog record.
  • When you need a journal or newspaper article and the Law Library does not own the journal or newspaper in print / microfilm, or offer a full-text electronically.
    • While in Advanced Search, Journal Finder or Search by Citation, click on the Interlibrary Loan tab to access ILLiad or use the Request book, chapter, or article through Interlibrary Loan (ILL) option in a catalog record.

Interlibrary Loan Service Does Not Make Scans on Behalf of Georgetown University Law Center Members

  • This ILL service will not scan the content from physical materials, e.g., books, journal issues, etc. found in the Law Library. ILL requests submitted by you for scans out of available Law Library physical materials will be cancelled.
  • This ILL service will not scan the content from a book that you have borrowed through ILL, or from local academic libraries.
  • The Law Library has two dedicated book scanners, in the Reading Room's Business Lounge, that you may use for free to scan materials. However, every Xerox printer found on campus can also make free scans.
  • The Law Library also has a digital microformat scanner that you may use to review and scan content from our microfilm or microfiche collection.

What if My Law Faculty Wants to Borrow the Book?

If the law faculty is to be the exclusive user of the borrowed item, then for a(n):

Georgetown Law Library Book Submit a completed Faculty Research Assistant Authorization form (available as a PDF) to the Circulation Desk. Once you are registered as a faculty RA, when you bring a Law Library book to the Circulation Desk, you may ask the staff to check out the book to that proxy account. This service is overseen by Access Services, 202-662-9131, lawcirc@georgetown.edu.
Local Academic Library Book Do not place a local academic loan order under your name. Ask your faculty to email the citation to the Law Library Research Services department at lawlibraryresearch@georgetown.edu. Research Services will then take the steps to submit a local loan request for the faculty. Once received, Research Services will check out and deliver the book to the faculty.
Interlibrary Loan Book Do not place an ILL request under your name. Ask your faculty to email the citation to the Law Library Research Service department at lawlibraryresearch@georgetown.edu. Research Services will then take the steps to submit an ILLiad request for the faculty. Once the book arrives at the Law Library, Research Services will deliver it to the faculty. Interlibrary Loan does not accept emailed citations or requests. ILLiad requests must be submitted under the name of person who will use the materials. For more information about ILL, please check How to Submit an ILL as an RA in this guide.

Check How to Submit an ILL as an RA for more detailed instructions.

Check More Library Services to Assist You for other services that may help you in borrowing library books as a Research Assistant.

How to Search for a Citation

Check first if the material is not readily available at or accessible through the Law Library.

Finding Print Books, Georgetown Licensed Ebooks, Videos on DVDs & Physical Items

Option 1 Option 2
  1. Georgetown U. + Local Academic Libraries Search or Book Search by Citation. Search for a book or item title.
  2. After finding a matching catalog record, sign in with your NetID & Password, submit a Request from a local academic library. Select Georgetown University Law Library as a Pick-up Institution.
  3. If you receive a consortium loan cancellation notice shortly after submitting a request, then in the catalog record click on Request book, chapter, or article through Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and sign into your registered ILLiad account.
  4. If there is no exact, matching catalog record, then submit an ILL request via ILLiad. There is an Interlibrary Loan tab in the top menu bar in Advanced Search and Search by Citation.
  1. WorldCat. Search for book or item title.
  2. A green "Georgetown Law Library" icon in a matching record may mean that the library owns a copy.Check for availability by following steps outlined in Option 1.
  3. If a green icon does not appear, then in the matching record click on the gray "Click here to request via ILL" button. Sign into your registered ILLiad account.

Free Digitized Books

  • HathiTrust: Publications that fall in the public domain may be freely downloaded. Text searching can be performed in those publications that do not fall into full-view access.
  • Internet Archive (IA): Publications that fall in the public domain may be freely downloaded. Books in Internet Archive's Open Library collection may be checked out by registering for a free personal account. Some loans may offer PDF options. CheckTips for Research Assistants: Technology Tips in this guide to take advantage of even the non-PDF IA digitized books.

Since the Law Library is unaffiliated with neither HathiTrust nor Internet Archive, we are unable to guarantee or address any instances where the digitized collection becomes unavailable.

Non-Georgetown Licensed Electronic or Online Books & ILL

  • ILL libraries do not "lend" their subscription credentials that would grant you access to their licensed electronic or online books.
  • Neither this ILL service nor the Law Library would purchase access for you.
  • If you submit a request to "borrow" an electronic or online book, this service will submit the request to ILL libraries to borrow the printed version with the closest copyright date.

Non-Georgetown Licensed Video Files & Streaming Videos & ILL

  • ILL libraries do not "lend" video files, or their subscription credentials that would grant you access their licensed streaming services.
  • Neither this ILL service nor the Law Library are able to purchase access for you.
  • An ILL request for a video or film title will be submitted to ILL libraries by us to borrow a physical DVD, or even a VHS tape. If you need to borrow audiovisual equipment to review such borrowed formats, please consult the Circulation Desk.
  • If the video, film, etc. is available only through streaming services, such as original works produced by Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc.:
    • Please ask you faculty to consider purchase a subscription / access to the streaming service.
    • Please visit the DC Public Library to watch films online.

Check Also...

But Wait! Is The Book Even Real? section within the Source Collection Information for Research Assistants guide.

Finding Access to Georgetown Licensed Electronic Articles & Publications

Searching by the Journal or Newspaper Publication Title Options: Searching by the Article Title Options:
  • Journal Finder: The results may include the Law Library's holdings of print volumes which can be helpful in locating articles that do not exist in electronic format.
  • Journal Search by Citation: Click on Journal before entering information.
  • Article Search by Citation:  You may also search by article title in this search engine.
If a print copy cannot be located or electronic version cannot be accessed, then submit an ILL request through ILLiad. There is an Interlibrary Loan tab in the top menu bar in addition to the Request book, chapter, or article through Interlibrary Loan (ILL) option in a catalog record. If a print copy cannot be located or electronic version cannot be accessed, then submit an ILL request through ILLiad. There is an Interlibrary Loan tab in the top menu bar in addition to the Request book, chapter, or article through Interlibrary Loan (ILL) option in a catalog record.

Non-Georgetown Licensed Online Article Subscriptions & ILL

  • ILL libraries do not "lend" their subscription credentials that would grant you direct access to their licensed online articles subscription.
  • This ILL service submits a request for a copy of the article from ILL libraries that have either a print journal issue, from which they would scan the pages of the article and send as PDF to you, or purchased an institutional license to an online subscription that (a) permits content sharing with us and (b) does not have an embargo that excludes the requested article.
    • If these exact conditions do not exist among ILL libraries, then it is not possible to obtain a copy of the article through this ILL service.
    • It may be necessary for the faculty to purchase a copy of the article from the publisher's website, using their research funds.
  • "Print" version of online articles: This ILL service cannot guarantee that the received article's contextual appearance would resemble a printed version, i.e., with separated and numbered pages. Sometimes, due to licenses, distribution policies, publishing timelines, embargoes and even ceased printed formats, the only format that may be exist at ILL libraries is a non-paginated text.
    • This ILL service cannot obtain a copy of an article in a format that does not exist at the time of the request.
    • The Bluebook style includes citation format for web-based publications.
  • Chances of a successful ILL clues?:
    • If the Law Library's online license to a journal has an embargo that excludes your article, then it's safe to assume that ILL libraries' licenses will also have the same restrictions and they will be unable to supply you a copy from their electronic subscription. This ILL service would only be able to resort to ILL libraries that may still purchase a print issue subscription, which reduces the number of potential suppliers for your requested article.
    • Dot-com only articles, accessible only through a personal, pay-wall membership and not via institutional licenses, is not the type of publication that ILL libraries carry, or can download and share content with us. This ILL service usually cannot obtain copies of such direct-to-individual-consumer publication products.

Law Library Research Guide

In-depth source collection methodologies are found in the Source Collection Instructions for Research Assistants guide.

Check Also...

Ceased-in-Print Publications

Many publishers are no longer producing their long-standing, continuing publications in a printed format, or no longer producing new works in a print format for each of their born-digital products. These include publications like journals, newspapers, trade or professional magazines, conference proceedings, state regulations, special interest newsletters, etc. It is not possible for ILL service to obtain a copy from a format that does not exist. If you need assistance citing to an online-only, non-paginated publication, please contact the Reference Desk.

Submitting an ILL request based upon a found, or citing author's, non-paginated web-edition or dot-com version will not result in the ILL service researching for the existence of a print formatted version for you. Please seek assistance first from the Reference Desk to verify that a published item does exist or is still produced in a printed formatted and obtain from the desk the citation for the printed format version for submission into the ILL request form.