Interlibrary Loan Instructions for Research Assistants

• 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 an RA. (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).
  • 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 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.

• Always feel free to contact the Reference Desk for assistance.
• Check the Law Library's catalog for:
  • Available print books at Law Library for pick-up: If a stack copy of the title you find in the catalog has a status as Available, and if you can commute to the campus, then send an email to lawcirc@georgetown.edu to request a pick-up. Provide as much book information if not the permalink of the catalog record. Note: Pick-up area is the lobby of the Williams Library. The 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.
  • Available print books at main campus Lauinger Library for pick-up: If a copy of the title you find in the catalog has a status as Available at Lauinger Library, and if you can commute to main campus, then send an email to accessservices@georgetown.edu to request a pick-up. Provide as much book information as available, if not the permalink of the catalog record. Pick-up location is their loading dock. Initially, there will be one pickup period each week.
  • Access to ebooks and ejournals.
• Casebooks & Study Aids:
  • Requests for scans of 10% or less of the content, or 40 pages or less, whichever is least, 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. Instead, please ask your faculty to request from the publisher a complimentary review copy. Review copy information is typically found on the publisher's website listing for the book. 
• 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 the citation you requested through ILL cannot be obtained, please contact Reference Services if you would like help finding alternate, more readily available publications on the same subject.

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 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.
• Lengthy scanning requests (10% of content, or 40 pages or more, whichever is least), which were not accepted under normal circumstances, will still not be considered by potential suppliers (these requests will be converted to e-license acquisitions if available).
• 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

Your patience and understanding are appreciated.