Interlibrary Loan Request Processing
Process new and pending interlibrary loan requests to move items toward lending and delivery; run this routine at the start of your ILL shift or when the queue grows. It keeps requests moving and patrons informed.
What's inside
Process new and pending interlibrary loan requests to move items toward lending and delivery; run this routine at the start of your ILL shift or when the queue grows. It keeps requests moving and patrons informed.
The ILL queue contains new or pending requests lacking lender assignments, status updates, or patron notifications.
Incomplete citations and missing patron contact details slow submission; locating willing lenders for obscure or out-of-region items requires extra searching and manual selection.
All new requests will have lenders selected and submitted, patrons notified of status, and received items recorded and closed in the system.
- • Workstation with ILL system access — 1
- • Printer — 1
- 01 Triage new requestsOpen the ILL queue, sort requests by date and patron priority, mark clearly ineligible requests, and flag entries with missing citation or contact details for follow-up.⏱ 5 min
- 02 Verify availability and identify lendersSearch WorldCat and regional catalogs for each title, record up to three potential lenders with location and lending terms, or mark the item 'unavailable' if no lenders are found.⏱ 10 min
- 03 Create and submit lender requestsEnter complete bibliographic metadata and patron permissions into the ILL system, select the best lender, submit the request, and copy the request number into the record.⏱ 8 min
- 04 Notify patronsSend a brief status message to each patron with the request number and estimated delivery or a request for missing information, and log the communication in the ILL record.⏱ 3 min
- 05 Receive and close requestsWhen items arrive, check condition, update status to 'received', arrange pickup or digitization, return loaned items on schedule, and close the request in the system.⏱ 5 min