Research > Interlibrary Loan
Interlibrary Loan
If the item you are looking for is not owned by the Multnomah County Library it may be possible to obtain it from another library system using Interlibrary Loan. You can conduct WorldCat searches for books and ArticleFirst searches for articles from home, office or other locations, but Interlibrary Loan requests must be made inside the library.
WorldCat
ArticleFirst
WorldCat
ArticleFirst
Before using WorldCat or ArticleFirst to locate items, please review the policies below.
- Interlibrary Loan requests must be placed inside a Multnomah County Library. They cannot be made via telephone, email, or the AskUs service.
- Only residents of Multnomah County, those who pay taxes on real or personal property in Multnomah County, and those who purchase a non-resident library card may use our Interlibrary Loan service. For more information, see "Interlibrary Loan policy change."
- Fifteen active requests are permitted at any one time. Additional requests will be deleted. A request is active from the time it is initiated until three days after the material is returned.
- We will attempt to borrow any item (exceptions listed below) as long as it is owned by a library that participates in Interlibrary Loan and is in the United States or Canada.
- The library is unable to borrow:
- Items published in the current calendar year.
- Items that are owned by Multnomah County Library (unless all copies are lost or missing).
- Bound periodicals. We will request photocopies or microform.
- Books printed before 1800. We will try to borrow these materials in reprint or microform, if available.
- Musical recordings, software, or video recordings in any format.
- We will attempt to borrow spoken audio (language instruction, books and lectures on tape or CD).
- The library always attempts to borrow from libraries who lend free of charge. However:
- If a free lending library is not available, the library will cover up to $10.00 on any item requested.
- If the cost of borrowing exceeds $10.00, Interlibrary Loan will not continue with the request until the patron agrees to pay the balance.
- To avoid delays, patrons are advised to indicate the amount they are willing to pay in the MaxCost field on the Interlibrary Loan form. Typically, $5.00 will cover most lending charges.
- Patrons with lost materials or fines of $20.00 or more may not request Interlibrary Loans until the lost materials are cleared or the fines have been reduced.
- Interlibrary Loan requests will not be processed for patrons with overdue Interlibrary Loan materials.
- Interlibrary Loan materials are checked out for a maximum of three weeks.
- Interlibrary loans are not renewable.
- Since Interlibrary Loan materials are lent through the generosity of other libraries, it is essential that responsibility for these items be absolutely clear. Therefore an Interlibrary Loan can only be checked out on the card of the person who requested the item. Educator Cards cannot be used to request or check out Interlibrary Loan materials.
- Failure to return an Interlibrary Loan will result in a minimum charge of $50.00 to your card.
Rev. 10-18-2007
If you have questions about these policies, or would like to check on the status of your Interlibrary Loan request, please contact the Interlibrary Loan department at 503.988.5245 or illmcl@multcolib.org. The Interlibrary Loan office is not staffed during all library hours, but we will respond to your question as quickly as possible.