Interlibrary Loan Instructions for Journal Staff

• Please continue to submit ILL requests into ILLiad.
  • If you have not registered an account yet, please follow the tips found on How to Submit an ILL as a Journal Staff. (Please note that some portions of this guide will not be applicable while the Law Library and other libraries operate under business continuity).
• Copies/Scans for Articles/Pages: We will do our best to process requests for copies or scans of 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, but currently three to five business days for fillable citations).
• Entire Books: Requests will be reviewed first for free, temporary ebook options. If none is available, the request will be forwarded to the Associate Director for Research & Collection Development for ebook license acquisition.
• This Guide's content has been updated to reflect continuity, however, information may still remain that is not applicable under current operating status.
• For ILL questions, please contact the service at law-ill@geoergetown.edu.

• A highly coordinated and closely managed source collection strategy will greatly benefit your journal, especially under continuity. Ask your Journal Liaison for guidance.
  • Please, assign your citations carefully to avoid duplicating the efforts of both your and library staff. Duplicated requests greatly impact source collection turnaround time. 
  • Make the best use of the Book Pick-Up services at the Law Library and main campus (steps found Source Collection Tips for Journal Staff) by designating one or two staff, who are able and willing to commute to either campus, to request and retrieve all requested books.
• If you want to have a record of all citations submitted by your staff, then consider using a single ILLiad account that your staff would use to submit their requests. If staff use their personal ILLiad accounts to submit their requests, you will not have access to those records.
• Do not submit ILL requests and simultaneously ask for copies from authors. Nationally, there are a limited number of ILL offices that can provide services. During these unprecedented times, we must be even more respectful of their valuable resources and avoid imposing upon them citations that your office is also asking from the author. If you resort to authors first, then use ILL only after that source fails, or vice versa.
• Reconsider the pages you need scanned out of a book for pincites.
  • Do you really need a scan of five or more pages before and after the pinpoint citation? Or, can you manage with only one to two pages before and after the pincite, or just a copy of the pincite page?
  • Rather than ILLing a scan of a book's title page, copyright page and table of contents, ask your staff to look at other sources, e.g., the publisher's website (which sometimes provide front matter pages as PDF), or Amazon.com (where you can take snippets of the "Look Inside" page images).

• Always feel free to contact Reference Services or your Journal Liaison for assistance.
• Check the Law Library's catalog for:
  • Access to ebooks and ejournals.
  • Available print books at Law Library for pick-up:
    1. If a stack copy of the title you find in the catalog has an "Available" status, then send an email to lawcirc@georgetown.edu to request a pick-up.
    2. Label your email subject as "BOOK PULL."
    3. Please provide as much book information as possible to minimize ambiguous interpretation of your request, especially for books with multiple editions. Providing the catalog link will help Access Services process your request efficiently.
    • If you cannot visit the campus, coordinate with your editor and see if a journal staff has been designated to retrieve requested Law Library books. 
    • Currently, Law Library book pick-up area is the lobby of the Williams Library. Pick-up time is every Thursday between 10 am and 4 pm. Items must be requested by 5 p.m. on Tuesday. Any requests that come in after 5 p.m. on Tuesday may not be available for pickup until the following Thursday. This policy may change in the fall.
  • Available print books at main campus Lauinger Library (only) for pick-up:
    1. If Lauinger Library's stack copy of the title you find in the catalog has "Available" status and if you, or a designated journal staff, can commute to main campus, then send an email to their accessservices@georgetown.edu to request a pick-up.
    2. Please provide as much book information, including the permalink of the catalog record, to minimize ambiguous interpretation of your request, especially for books with multiple editions. Providing the catalog link will help their Access Services to process your request efficiently.
    • If you cannot visit the campus, coordinate with your editor and see if a journal staff has been designated to retrieve requested Law Library books. 
    • Currently: Pick-up location is their loading dock. There is one pickup period each week. This policy may change depending on that campus' open status.
• Casebooks & Study Aids: 
  • Requests for scans of 10% or less of the content (to comply with fair use), or 40 pages or less (average page limits set by supplying libraries), whichever is less, may be submitted for ILL. 
  • Requests to obtain entire copies of casebooks and study aids, or excessive scans (>10% of content or >40 pages), cannot be processed via Interlibrary Loan. Such publications are not considered for institutional e-book licensing acquisitions. Consider consulting the author for source collection assignments that require large amount of content within the casebook or study aid.
• If you happen to come across an article through a web search, try adding the following EZProxy prefix before the URL (i.e., before https://) to see if you have full-text access: http://proxygt-law.wrlc.org/login?url=
• If an item cannot be obtained through ILL, and if your editor permits it, consider contacting the author for a copy. Please do not submit an ILL and simultaneously contact the author. If you choose to contact the author, then use ILL only after that source fails, or vice versa.
• If a citation cannot be obtained through ILL or from the author, please contact your Journal Liaison or Reference Services. They may be able to assist you in identifying an alternate source for the referenced information.

In response to COVID-19, the Law Center campus and the Law Library building are closed and all staff are working remotely. Other universities or institutions 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 online alternative is available.
• Scans of citations that only exist in microfilm format (such as older newspapers) would be difficult, or maybe impossible, to obtain at present.
• Lengthy scanning requests (40 pages or more), which were not accepted under normal circumstances, will not be considered by potential suppliers (these requests will be converted to e-license acquisitions).
• Other ILL offices, even if staffed, do not have the capacity to perform research on our behalf and cannot accommodate requests to peruse an entire work, or microfilm, in order to locate an obscure citation.
• It is more difficult for ILL offices experiencing reduced staffing to process complicated scanning requests, e.g. scans of a book's front matter plus non-consecutive pages. Resort to the publisher's website and the "Look Inside" feature on Amazon.com to locate front matter pages, e.g. title page, copyright page and table of contents.
• There may be a greater probability that you will have to resort to the author for a copy of a cited source. However, please do not submit an ILLiad request if you have already contacted the author for a copy so that we do not waste a potential supplying library's limited staffing and time.

Your patience and understanding are appreciated.