InterLibrary Loan - Return of a Popular Service

During the COVID-19 crisis, interlibrary loan (ILL)  services at the Medina County District Libraries (MCDL) was put on hiatus. The service was quietly reinstated a few months ago.

BUT, at the Library Board of Trustees' meeting on July 19th, the Board members voted to rescind the $5 processing fee that was enacted in 2009 when the State of Ohio budget slashed funding to public libraries.* 

The "old" interlibrary loan form.
The $5 processing fee was charged whether you received the material or not.

As of the 19th, MCDL is now accepting new requests for interlibrary loan (ILL) for materials held by continental U.S. libraries with NO processing fee attached. Some lending libraries charge to borrow these materials up to a $15 maximum. Or you can opt out of paying any borrowing fees and MCDL will only request the item from libraries that do not charge a fee. 

Once you have placed a ILL request, it can take a couple of weeks for MCDL to receive the item from the owning library.

What types of materials can NOT be requested through ILL?

• If the item is available to checkout at any of the CLEVNET consortium libraries, including all of the MCDL branches.
• Anything that was published in the last year (current year copyright)
• Rare, valuable items. For example, the first edition of James Audubon's Birds of the America which sold for $13.8 million in 2010. Don't try to request it!
• Items that don't travel well, like a rare and fragile Ella Fitzgerald album.

Types of genealogy related items that can be requested:

• 

  Family Bible with births, deaths
  and marriages registered.

  Family histories 
• Family Bibles                                                                   
  
• Diaries or journals 
• County or state histories 
• Atlases 
• Autobiographies 
• Government records 
• Meeting minutes or proceedings 
• Indexes to birth, death or marriage records 
• Church histories

How do you find what materials are held by libraries across the country? 

Use WorldCat.

WorldCat is a network of libraries across the world that lists the member libraries' materials and often agrees to share them with other member libraries.

Learn how to use WorldCat by watching this short video:  

REMEMBER: 

• Decide if you are willing to pay a fee from the lending library.
• Provide complete information on the item you want: title, author, publication year, etc.
• Let the Library Staff know if you are willing to accept photocopies only.
• Be specific about what information you want to find. If you are able to accept photocopies, provide an individual's or a family's name, location, and time period.
• Be patient.
• If you have any questions, you can call the Medina Reference Desk at 330-725-0588 extension 2030.

Oh, and that "old" paper interlibrary loan form pictured at the top of the screen?  It has been replaced by an online form that library staff fills out for you!

*2008-2009 the state and the country experienced a severe economic depression. In order to continue the service the Board decided to pass the processing costs onto members using the service.