You may encounter resources in the library catalog or databases that are not available in their full text version. In this case, you are encouraged to request them via our interlibrary loan service. Electronic document delivery of journal articles and other e-resources can take as little as just a few hours after request to be delivered into your ILL account. Physical resources like books can take a little longer, up to a few weeks, so factor this time in as you decide what to request.
When you are browsing the library catalog, normally you will see methods for accessing the full text linked directly from the search results. However, sometimes there will be no access available through Williams. In that case, you will see a "Get Access" label.
If you click on the resource title, you will be brought to the record page detailing more information about the resource. Scroll down to "How to get it" and under "Additional Services", there should be a link for requesting an article scan.
Once you click this link, you will be brought to your ILL account, with a request pre-populated with a lot of the information from the library record. Take a moment to double check that this form was populated correctly, and add any additional information that you can find. The more information, the better! I also highly recommend using the "Additional Comments" section at the end if needed. Here you can communicate factors like the level of urgency, when you need the resource by, preferred format, and any other extenuating circumstances. Real humans are on the other end processing these requests, and any additional information really helps them out!
Lastly, don't forget to hit that "Submit Request" button at the bottom!
If the item you want cannot be found in the library catalog, you'll need to manually create an ILL request with the information you do have about the item. Go to your ILL account either through the link above, or through the library homepage. Sign in and navigate to the "New Request" tab on the left-hand side of the screen. Choose the format that best fits the type of resource you are requesting. For journal articles, use "Article".
REACH OUT to a librarian if you need help with an interlibrary loan request!
My contact information is available in the box below.
