A list of Frequently Asked Questions and their answers is available further down this page.
Interlibrary loan is a service that allows members of one library to borrow journal articles, book chapters, and other digital materials from other libraries.
Eligibility to use interlibrary loan:
All materials are delivered electronically. Download them before 30 days have elapsed, and they are yours to keep.
It's an ongoing cooperative resource-sharing project that allows all SUNY Empire students, staff and faculty to request digital materials from libraries within the IDS project (which includes all SUNY libraries, and others.)
First confirm that the materials you are requesting are not already available to you through our Library's own collections. Give as much information as possible about the materials you are requesting, including:
Borrowers are not charged for using Interlibrary Loan. The costs are covered by SUNY Shared Library Services.
Not anymore.
No. The reason is that most software comes with a specific number of licenses. The library that lends the software wouldn't be able to regulate who had it installed at any one time, so it would be in danger of copyright infringement. You can purchase software that is required for your courses from the SUNY Empire bookstore. Academic Superstore also offers an often-substantial student/educator discount on software.
Under the current budget situation, the ILL book delivery program was too expensive and we had to put it on hiatus. You can still request one chapter from a book, which will be delivered electronically.
You can also go to any SUNY or NY community college library and use your SUNY Empire photo ID to borrow books. Please call ahead to inquire about parking options and current masking policies.
Click the Login link at the top of the Interlibrary Loan page. It will take you to the SUNY Empire login screen. If it is your first time accessing Interlibrary Loan, you'll arrive at the New User Registration to fill out, and then you'll be able to make electronic requests right away.
Your account is directly tied to your SUNY Empire login - you cannot create a second or separate account.
Your username and password allow us to give you secure access to information about your interlibrary loan requests. You also can edit your contact and shipping information.
If you forget your password, then you will need to contact ITS, because it is the password for your institutional login.
Safari, Firefox, Chrome, and Microsoft Edge are fine.
The webpage sends a session ID to be stored on your machine so the system will recognize your computer, reducing the number of times you have to log in in the future. You can refuse this cookie and still be able to use ILLiad without any problems.
Adobe Acrobat Reader is available without charge from Adobe Systems, Inc. You can get Adobe Reader at this link.
You must submit a valid email address to receive notification of the status of your request. You also will receive notifications of cancellations, due dates, recalls and overdue notices.
Requests may be cancelled for a number of reasons:
Journal articles and some book chapters will be made available to you to read and download through the ILL system. You will need the free, downloadable software application Adobe Reader to open these PDF documents. For more information, refer to the detailed information below on electronic delivery.
Download and save your files and you may keep them forever.
You do not need to, because all materials are digital. You should download and save them within 30 days or they will be automatically deleted, but once you save them, you can keep them forever.
All items will be electronically delivered. You will receive an automated email notification for each item received.
Through ILLiad, you will receive articles and book chapters as PDF files, and you can download them. You can read more about electronic delivery on ILLiad's electronic delivery information page.
You will need a PDF reader, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader installed and configured to work with your Web browser in order to view, download and print these articles. If you can read the sample page, then your computer has the necessary software installed to work with your Web browser. However, if your computer tells you the file type is unknown and asks if you want to save the file to disk, then you need to install the Adobe Acrobat Reader software.
Please fill out the Ask a Librarian Form.
From time to time the librarians purge older records from ILLiad.
Has it been less than 48 hours? If so, then don't worry because they may have been hard to find, so they are still being processed.
You can fill out the Ask a Librarian Form about missing items.
You do not need to return the digital materials that you receive.
There are no due dates, so you will not incur any fines.
No. Digital materials are yours to keep forever. Just remember to download and save them within 30 days of receiving them.
If you have moved, you must change your address in the system or you will not receive materials that are shipped to you.
Please fill out the Ask a Librarian Form.
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