Albright I.L.L. is a free service open to the Albright College community of current students, faculty and staff who have an Albright College LionLink account.
Can't locate an item you need? We can help! Any Albright student, faculty member or staff member with a valid Albright College LionLink account can use our interlibrary loan service to request materials that the Albright College Library does not own or have access to via electronic subscription. Once the request is received, the Gingrich Library borrows that material from an ILL participating library.
Important Points to Consider Before Requesting an Interlibrary Loan
- Start your research early and discuss any problems or special needs with the reference staff at 610-921-7211 or libraryref@albright.edu.
- Allow adequate time to get your materials. ILLs may take from 2 days to 2 weeks, despite our best efforts to get them as fast as possible.
- Before you request a loan, check cataLION (Albright College's online catalog) (for books and AV materials), the Journal Locator (for links to journal full text titles) or the Find Fulltext icon
embedded in most of the library's databases.
- ILL should NOT be used to borrow textbooks or course materials since that is against the US ILL Code and the Pennsylvania ILL Code. We are rarely successful in obtaining dissertations, most academic audiovisual materials, or selected international publications that are not published in English.
- Keep your email account up-to-date. We communicate about your loans via email.
- When possible, journal articles will be sent to you electronically and do not have to be returned (unless you are notified differently). Books and AV materials must be returned to the Reading campus. Overdue fines for books and AV materials are equivalent to those charged for materials we own. Lost materials are charged at the price set by the lending library, not by Albright.
- Contact ILL at 610-921-7207 or email libraryill@albright.edu to discuss blocked ILL accounts. Accounts are generally blocked because the patron has items that are overdue, has requested items that were not picked up, or is not eligible to use ILL. The ILL staff will talk with blocked patrons to resolve those (or other) issues that have resulted in accounts being blocked.
If you would like more information on using ILL please refer to the ILL FAQ or contact libraryill@albright.edu
embedded in most of the library's databases.