What is an Inter-Library Loan and how do I get one?

What is an Inter-Library Loan?

If you are unable to find what you need in our print stock or via NELSON, you can apply to our Inter-Library Loan service to source the material for you. These items will be obtained from other organisations or purchased for library stock. These requests must be for private study or research that is not for a commercial purpose.  The Inter-Library Loan (ILL) service aims to provide you with resources to support you in your academic studies or research, that are not available in the University of Northampton’s library collection.

Items that are held in library stock, but are out on loan, can be reserved by going to the Get It section of the item on NELSON and clicking on Reserve. 

Please note all requests should be for academic material that relates to your field of study or research.  

What do I do before requesting an Inter-Library Loan?

Before submitting a request, please check the item is not already available at UON by searching NELSON

• If a print book is in library stock, but out on loan, use the option in the Get It section to Reserve the book. You will be notified when it is returned to the library  

• If you require a book chapter (one chapter per book) or journal article (one article per issue) from our print library stock, use the option in the Get It section for Scan and Deliver.   

I've checked NELSON and I do need to request an Inter-Library Loan, what do I do?

We have a short video, showing how to request an ILL:

Make sure you are logged in to NELSON. We have a guide to help you log in. Then:  

• Select Inter-Library Loans from the top menu bar. There is also an option for Inter-Library Loans in the Get It section of a title not found in stock 

• Select the type of resource, book or article. For book chapters, select book, then tick the box ‘I only need a specific chapter or pages’  

• Complete as many fields of information as possible 

• When completing the request, you must tick the copyright declaration box to confirm you have read and understood the terms of supply. 

The library team will contact you directly by email when there is an update on your request. You can view all your requests on your library account. 

I have a question about Inter-Library Loans

Please contact the Inter-Library Loan Team at interlibraryloans@northampton.ac.uk with any questions you have, we are happy to help. This process is new following our new library management system and we are happy to help you to use the new request system.