Interlibrary Loan Services FAQ

Interlibrary loan (ILL) is a library-to-library loan service for current University of Minnesota law students, faculty, and staff. The primary purpose of ILL is to assist scholarly research by obtaining materials not available locally, but there are no content restrictions on requests. If you need an item not available on campus, we may be able to arrange a loan from a participating library.

Law students, faculty, and staff of the University of Minnesota Law School (see the FAQ "How to I Request Materials" below). Faculty, students, and staff in other disciplines or affiliated with other University of Minnesota colleges, may use the ILL service at the library that serves your discipline or college, (e.g., Wilson Library). Go to https://umn.illiad.oclc.org/illiad/logon.html for more information.

• Materials not owned by any of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus libraries. Check the Libraries Catalog to confirm the item is not owned by a library on our campus. See the Law Library Reference Office for assistance in searching the Libraries Catalog.

• Materials that are owned by the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus libraries but are checked out, have been declared lost, or missing, or are otherwise unavailable.

Digital Delivery Service

The Law Library offers a digitization service for law faculty, staff and students to request digitized copies of small portions of printed materials (articles, book chapters) held by the Law Library or other libraries on the Twin Cities campus. Requests will be filled within 1-10 days, but typically within 48 hours.

Please note the following exceptions:

• Rare or fragile items are not available for scanning.
• Reserve items are not available for scanning.
• Copyright restrictions may limit the fulfillment of certain requests.

If the item is not available on campus, we will initiate an interlibrary loan copy request for the item. Interlibrary loan requests may take longer than 10 days (subject to the response times of other libraries).

Due to the high volume of material required for source-gathering, law journal staff members are encouraged to copy materials for cite checking when possible. Requests related to source-gathering may take longer than 10 days.

Digital copy requests may be submitted via email to x-asap@umn.edu.

Yes, these include:

• Computer diskettes, videotapes, audio tapes, and other AV materials
• Reference and rare materials
• Entire issues/volumes of journals
• Dissertations and theses
• Recently published books/journals
• Newspapers and foreign serials

Law School Faculty and Staff
Send requests to David Zopfi-Jordan
Email: x-asap@umn.edu

Law Students
Email: x-asap@umn.edu to borrow books, DVDs, or to get copies of articles, chapters from books and other items from other libraries.

Law Review/Journal Staff - Source Finds
All ILL requests associated with source finds must be coordinated by the journal editor. Editors can submit ILL requests via email to  x-asap@umn.edu.

Most materials are available at no charge to law faculty or students. If a fee is required, you will be contacted before the material is ordered.

Typically 1-4 weeks for photocopies; 2 weeks to 2 months for books. Rare, recent, and in-demand items may take longer. Please place your requests well in advance of your deadlines.

• Make sure the item is not owned by a library on the U of M campus by checking the Libraries Catalog (you may find the book or journal is available in hardcopy or electronic format).
• Make sure the item is not available from an electronic source such as Bloomberg Law, Lexis, Westlaw, HeinOnline or the web (unless an electronic version is not acceptable).
• Check with a reference librarian for other databases and resources that may include your item (especially for periodical articles).
• Include as much of the information described below as possible. Do not use abbreviations if they are not used in the original citation. Contact the Law Library Reference Office for assistance in locating bibliographic information.

Contact our ILL staff: email: x-asap@umn.edu. Note: It typically takes 1 - 4 weeks for photocopies and 2 weeks to 2 months for books to arrive. Rare, recent, and in-demand items may take longer.

We will contact you via e-mail upon receipt of materials or if we are unable to fill your request. Items are held at the library Circulation Desk for pick-up or delivered to faculty offices.

Photocopies of items, (e.g., journal articles, book chapters), are yours to keep at no charge. Due date information and any restrictions for loans of original items, (e.g. books, theses), will be noted on a book band placed on the front cover of the borrowed material. Items supplied by the Minitex network are not renewable. The loan and renewal periods for materials borrowed from other sources are determined by the lending library. If you need the material for a longer time please contact us approximately one week before the item is due and we will attempt to renew it.

Original items, (e.g., books, videos), that have been loaned should be returned to the Circulation Desk in the Law Library. Please leave all bands and paperwork intact. Please do not return ILL items to any other campus library.

You are responsible for overdue fines imposed by the lending library for items borrowed for you via ILL. Please return your ILL materials on time. Failure to do so may result in suspension of ILL services for you and may jeopardize our ILL privileges with the lending library.

If you damage or lose material that has been borrowed through Interlibrary Loan, please contact our ILL staff via email:  x-asap@umn.edu right away. We will contact the lending library to determine replacement or repair fees. You will be charged and responsible for payment of these fees.

Certain federal copyright laws and guidelines apply to ILL borrowing and lending requests. Under copyright law, ILL photocopy requests are limited to only one article per journal issue or one chapter per book per patron. If you need more than one article from a journal issue, you may be asked to pay copyright fees for the additional article(s). If you need more than one chapter per book, we will likely be able to borrow the book for you. 

Also note: NOTICE: WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material.

Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specific conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship or research." If a user makes a request for or later uses a photocopy in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve a violation of the copyright law.

David Zopfi-Jordan
Interlibrary Loan Librarian
Email: x-asap@umn.edu
Phone: (612) 625-9534
FAX: (612) 625-3478
Address: University of Minnesota Law Library
Interlibrary Loan
150 Walter F. Mondale Hall
229 19th Ave. So.
Minneapolis, MN 55455