Available Materials: Eligible patrons may request anything that Joyner Library does not own or which is not currently available from Joyner Library, such as materials that are checked out, missing, lost, on order, or not yet received. Materials that are most frequently requested include books, articles (from journals, newspapers, or magazines), dissertations, theses, CDs, and DVDs, but you can also request maps, government documents, bound journals, archival manuscripts, audio tapes, VHS tapes, and records. The basic rule to remember about ILL Borrowing is that if you want it for your research, it never hurts to ask for it. Please note, though, that not everything can be obtained, but that we will attempt to find it for you.

Costs and Limits: Currently, none of the costs of the service are passed on to eligible patrons, nor are there any limitations placed on the number of requests or on the type of materials that can be requested by eligible patrons. Please note, although you are not charged money for each request, each does take staff time and can cost the library money for shipping and packaging, copying, and copyright royalties.

Making Requests: Login to ILLiad to place requests for items that Joyner Library does not own, including titles held at Laupus Library. There are a number of request forms in ILLiad from which to choose -- simply select the one that best fits the material you want from among the request forms under Interlibrary Loan: article, book, book chapter, thesis, audio visual, etc. To ensure that we receive the exact item that you desire, please provide all bibliographic citation information that you have, especially if you have the ISSN, ISBN, or OCLC number, of if you have a specific edition, language, or media type in mind. If your citation has abbreviations in the journal title, please provide the spelled out version of the title if you happen to know it. 

Process: Through Joyner's participation in the OCLC library network, we attempt to locate and obtain your desired material from over 10,000 libraries world-wide. If those libraries are unable to provide the material, we ask other possible providers, such as historical associations, professional organizations, government agencies, corporations, museums, and think tanks. 

Delivery/Shipping: Most article/photocopy requests will be provided to you electronically as a PDF file available on our web server. Books and media materials will be made available to you at Joyner's circulation desk whenever the library is open. If you would prefer to have materials sent to the Music Library, please contact the ILL staff. Materials for DE patrons who live outside of Pitt County will be shipped via FedEx 2-Day Ground service; visit the Document Delivery web page for more information on services to DE patrons.

All ECU students, faculty, and staff can directly borrow materials from any of the other 15 UNC System libraries via the University of North Carolina Cooperative Library Lending Agreement, http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/borrow/unc, without going through Interlibrary Loan.  Materials can be checked out from UNC libraries with your current student ID; if you do not have an ECU ID card or a library refuses to accept it, please ask the library to contact the Joyner Library Circulation Desk to verify your enrollment by calling 252-328-6518. Borrowed materials are due back to the owning library by that library's due date, either by you physically returning them there or shipping them back to that library at your expense. If you would prefer, you may drop borrowed materials off at the ILL office for us to return them on your behalf with our next shipment to that library; however, when materials are left for Joyner ILL to mail back, please know that it might take a week or so for the owning library to receive the material from us, mainly due to the time it takes to mail materials by library mail.  Most, if not all, owning libraries will charge overdue fees for each day items are overdue; you will be responsible for those fees, including fees for days spent in transit, whether you or ILL returns the items. ILL is not able to pay any overdue fees on your behalf for this service. This service is particularly useful for Distance Education patrons, those home on break, and for those who are in desperate need of material immediately, especially over a weekend when Interlibrary Loan departments are closed. Of course, you can always request through ILL Borrowing materials owned by other UNC libraries.