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Schedule a library consultation: with a SUNY Empire librarian on Microsoft Teams.
A list of Frequently Asked Questions and their answers is available further down this page.
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a free service that allows SUNY Empire students, faculty, and staff to request ebooks, articles, book chapters, and more from libraries across the country. If our library doesn't have what you need, we’ll try to get it for you from another library—usually in just a few days.
Use ILL to access resources for research, assignments, or personal enrichment that aren't available through our library's databases or catalog.
Eligibility to use interlibrary loan:
Articles and book chapters are usually delivered within 2 to 4 business days.
Some requests may arrive faster—within 24 hours—while others may take longer depending on availability and copyright restrictions.
If the item is difficult to locate or requires special permissions, you’ll be notified by email.
Note: SUNY Empire does not request or circulate physical items through ILL. If you need a full book, we may be able to purchase an ebook version.
Interlibrary Loan is a FREE service that allows all SUNY Empire students, staff and faculty to request digital materials such as articles and chapters.
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:
Use of OneSearch to find the the citation is the easiest way to get all this information and you'll need to submit the ILL request via OneSearch.
There are no charges for using Interlibrary Loan.
Unfortunately, we cannot borrow print books as we have no physical library. You can still request one chapter from a book, which will be delivered electronically. And, you can also request that the library purchase an ebook for you. We generally will purchase any ebooks available for us to license. However, not all books are available as an ebook that libraries can license.
You can also go to any SUNY or CUNY library and use your SUNY Empire photo ID to borrow books. Please call ahead to inquire about parking options and visitor policies.
ILL features are available via Onesearch. Your Empire log in will be your account. Sign into OneSearch for all requesting options and to see what items have been delivered to you.
You will receive notifications of cancellations or updates to your request via email. You can also check the status of your ILL requests or see previous requests in the My Library Card feature in the upper right side of OneSearch.
Requests may be cancelled for a number of reasons The cancellation message will contain details about why we canceled the request. We typically try to purchase content and exhaust all possibilities for obtaining the requested item before cancelling.
Journal articles and some book chapters will be made available to you to read and download through OneSearch. You will get a link in the notification email where you can download the item.
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.
Please fill out the Ask a Librarian Form.