Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery Policy

The UMGC Library ("the Library") provides interlibrary loan and document delivery services to current UMGC students, faculty, and staff in the United States and overseas. The Library brands these services as DocumentExpress. To be eligible to use the Library's DocumentExpress service, one must be currently engaged in a course or employed by UMGC, i.e., a student must be currently participating in at least one UMGC course; a faculty member must be teaching at least one course in the current semester or term; and a staff member must be currently employed by UMGC. UMGC alumni are eligible to use the Library's on-site collection but cannot make DocumentExpress requests. UMGC loans its materials to other libraries free of charge, nationally and internationally.

• Interlibrary Loan (ILL) – a UMGC Library service that obtains returnable (e.g., books, DVDs, and CDs) and non-returnable (e.g., photocopies of articles) materials from libraries that are not available (i.e., not owned, present, or not allowed to circulate) in the University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions’ (USMAI) libraries (see UMGC’s Circulation Policy 240.90).
• Document Delivery (DD) – a UMGC Library service that provides PDF (Portable Document Format) versions of journal/magazine articles not available in the Library’s full-text databases or E-journals collections. Also provided are PDF versions of book chapters (generally no more that 20% of any given book due to copyright restrictions). These materials are delivered to individual accounts accessible to current UMGC students, faculty and staff via the DocumentExpress interface. These documents can be read online, downloaded, and/or printed once accessed. All PDF documents expire after twenty-one days and become irretrievable.

• Cost: UMGC students, faculty and staff may use the Library’s DocumentExpress service free of charge. However, individuals are held responsible for returning loaned books by the due date. If books are not returned within three (3) weeks of the due date, an individual may be liable for a $50.00 to $500.00 replacement fee per item charged by UMGC on behalf of the lending library.
• Services: The Library provides ILL (as defined in II, A) services to current UMGC students, faculty and staff within the continental United States and to faculty in AK and HI. The Library provides document delivery (as defined in II, B) services to all current UMGC students, faculty and staff regardless of residency location.
• Misuse: DocumentExpress is a research service available to UMGC students, faculty, and staff as a privilege. The Library reserves the right to curtail or terminate an individual’s DocumentExpress privilege in certain circumstances, e.g., efforts to circumvent clauses in the Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery Policy, and abuse of the privilege for personal advantage to the detriment of the larger UMGC community.
• Summary of ILL service by patron type

  Patron	Eligibility	Privileges	Fines
  Students	Must be currently registered in a UMGC class.	Unlimited number of ILL / document delivery. (Full length, hardcopy books may be obtained for those in the continental US only)	A $50-500 non-refundable UMGC fee if books are overdue and not returned within three weeks of the due date.
  Faculty	Must be currently teaching a UMGC class.	Unlimited number of ILL / document delivery (Full length, hardcopy books may be obtained for those anywhere in the US)	A $50-500 non-refundable UMGC fee if books are overdue and not returned within three weeks of the due date.
  Staff	Must be a currently employed UMGC staff member.	Unlimited number of ILL / document delivery (Full length, hardcopy books may be obtained for those in the continental US only)	A $50-500 non-refundable UMGC fee if books are overdue and not returned within three weeks of the due date.
  Alumni	Not eligible	N/a	N/a

• ILL and document delivery requests are accepted via the DocumentExpress interface at this URL: https://illiad.umgc.edu/Illiad/logon.html and from within the Library’s collection of online databases via the Find it! button.
• Audio/visual materials such as CDs, CD-ROMs, VHS, and DVD titles are seldom loaned via ILL, and they are not available for document delivery. Stateside patrons may inquire with the Library but should be aware that the likelihood of obtaining these materials is minimal.
• Textbook materials are rarely purchased by libraries for their collections. The Library refers all students, faculty, and staff making ILL or Document Delivery requests for textbook materials to UMGC’s online bookstore, MBS Direct, or the textbook publisher.
• Item availability and loan periods for ILL books are entirely dependent on the policies of the lending library. UMGC cannot override or interfere with the policies of other libraries.
• Delivery and Return of ILL and Document Delivery Materials
  • Books: The Library delivers ILL books via UPS to current students, faculty, and staff living within the continental United States (or to faculty in AK or HI) upon request. UPS return labels are included in the initial shipment. Patrons should use these labels to return materials to the Library.
  • Electronic document delivery: Materials delivered via document delivery are not subject to return and may be kept by the requestor in digital or paper format. Document delivery materials will be deleted from individual DocumentExpress accounts after twenty-one days of availability and are not retrievable after this time lapses.
  • Delivery turnaround times: The average time for an ILL book to be delivered to the requestor is two to three weeks. The average document delivery time for journal articles and book chapters varies from the same day as the request to a few weeks. Speed of delivery for both ILL and document delivery depend in large part upon the operational capabilities of the loaning libraries.

• The Library adheres to Title 17 of the US Code, the CONTU Guidelines and the Universal Copyright and Berne Conventions.
• Materials Available to Borrowing Libraries
  • All monographs except those classified as non-circulating.
  • Photocopies of articles from periodicals.
  • Portions of books, i.e., photocopies of book chapters.
  • VHS, DVD, other audio-visual and computer files are not part of the Library's interlibrary loan lending program but may be made available on a case-by-case basis.
  • Photocopies of archival material, theses, and dissertations may be made available on a case-by-case basis.
• Process Information for Potential Borrowing Libraries
  • All requests for materials should be made via OCLC. The Library may consider requests received via mail, electronic mail, telephone, or fax if unusual circumstances exist.
  • UMGC does not charge borrowing libraries for the use of its materials.
  • UMGC does not charge late fees.
  • UMGC does charge for lost materials.
  • The loan period for UMGC monographs is twenty-eight days. Loans may be renewed up to five times.
  • If UMGC must recall an item, we expect it to be returned within fourteen days.
  • All photocopy materials sent to borrowing libraries need not be returned to UMGC unless specifically stated.
  • UMGC prefers that all borrowing institutions use an expedited postal or courier service with tracking capability when returning UMGC materials.