Interlibrary Loan Policy for Materials in Special Collections & Archives

Researchers may request published material from Special Collections and Archives through Interlibrary Loan at their home institutions. Requests for unpublished materials and for exhibit loans should be made directly to Special Collections and Archives. Although most of our materials are not eligible for loan, we make every effort to fill requests through scanning or photocopying materials.

Special Collections and Archives ILL policy is informed by the Big Ten Academic Alliance Principles and Protocols for Interlibrary Loan of Special Collections Materials, ACRL/RBMS Guidelines For Interlibrary And Exhibition Loan Of Special Collections Materials, and the 2013 OCLC Research Report on sharing of special collections materials.

Loans from Special Collections and Archives may be considered if the material requested

• Is held in multiple copies in the collection
• Is in good physical condition
• Is not available from any other repository

Institutions receiving loans of Special Collections and Archives materials must provide a secure reading room under constant surveillance and must have a special collections program, including staff assigned to and trained in the care and handling of special collections. In addition, the borrowing institution must provide secure storage for the borrowed material during the loan period.

Requests for materials that cannot be loaned will be filled through scans or photocopies if they meet the following requirements:

• The request is for 30 or fewer pages
• The material requested will not be physically damaged in the reproduction process
• The requested reproduction does not violate any copyright law

All requests for ILL of Special Collections and Archives materials are evaluated on a case by case basis, and all must be approved by a departmental librarian.

Upon receipt of a request, the Special Collections and Archives staff will let the ZSR ILL staff know within one business day whether the material is available to loan or scan. Scan requests will be entered into the User Initiated Scan queue as high priority and will generally be filled within one week.

Reviewed 2024