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Accessibility Information

Interlibrary Loan Policy


Interlibrary Loan This link opens in a new window (ILL) is a free cooperative service between libraries that provides current SNHU students, staff, and faculty access to articles, books, and other materials not available through Shapiro Library.

Access to Services

  • Student access privileges starts on the beginning day of your first class and ends after the final date of your last term.
  • Faculty/adjunct/staff access privileges begins 90 days before the start date of the course that you have been assigned to teach and ends 1 year after the final date of your last assigned class.

Accessibility

If you require a certain format (i.e. ePUB, PDF, etc) please let us know in the NOTE section of your request and we will try to get the format needed.

Article requests

Copies of articles from the Library's in-house print journals and periodicals may be requested by submitting an Interlibrary Loan Request Form. Before making requests, please check the availability of the periodical or journal via the Periodical Finder This link opens in a new window as it may be available in one of our online article databases.

If the article is not available through the Shapiro Library or found full-text online, a request will be sent out to other libraries to obtain the article. Most article interlibrary loans are digitally transmitted and deposited into your Interlibrary Loan account. The complete process to fulfill your request will take approximately 3 to 5 business days. In order for all of the University’s library students & faculty to have reasonable access to Interlibrary Loan services, Interlibrary Loan submissions are limited to 5 per person, per day. The timeframe for materials requested to be delivered will depend upon the volume requested, the provider’s location, and the means of transmission from the lending library.

Canceled requests

Interlibrary loan staff most often cancel requests when we cannot find a library that can provide the requested item.  Requests may also be canceled if we cannot fill before the date specified in the “Cancel if not filled by” field on your ILL request.

If ILL staff fill a book request via purchase in print format, we must cancel the ILL request, and send a cancelation email, as the request is filled via a method outside the usual ILL workflow.

In each of the above cases, we will communicate the reason for cancelation via email.

Patrons can cancel any request with a status of Submitted at any time via your ILL user portal.

International Shipping (Students)

We will not ship print materials internationally. All ILL requests will be fulfilled electronically.

Item availability

The following items are available through ILL:

  • academic journal articles
  • book chapters
  • books

The following items are NOT available through ILL:

  • textbooks
  • reference books
  • dissertations and theses
  • rare or valuable materials such as manuscripts
  • bound periodical volumes
  • printed newspapers
  • materials on reserve
  • group use materials
  • tests (PsycTESTS)
  • sound recordings
  • DVDs

PLEASE NOTE: Interlibrary Loan materials cannot be used as course readings (neither optional nor required). It is a violation of copyright law to use an article, book, or book chapter obtained from interlibrary loan in this way. ILL is only an option for students, faculty, and staff who need to use a material for personal research, not as a replacement for course text.

Late returns

Physical items that are borrowed from other libraries and the loan period is set by the lending library. Because late returns jeopardize our relationship with lending libraries, late or lost books will incur sizable replacement and handling charges by the lending library and Shapiro Library processing fees. Shapiro Library borrowing privileges may be revoked for patrons who abuse interlibrary loan policies.

Loan period and renewals

To allow for processing and shipping time returned books must be received by the Shapiro Library no later than the date specified on the white Interlibrary Loan bookmark accompanying the book.

You may request renewal of your interlibrary loan material via your ILL user portal or by contacting ill@snhu.edu. Renewals are granted by the library who supplied the item, and those libraries may approve or deny your renewal request. Renewals are not automatic and depend upon the lending library policy. No renewal requests will be made for overdue books.

Lost/damaged materials

Lost or damaged books will incur sizable replacement and handling charges by the lending library and Shapiro Library. Shapiro Library borrowing privileges may be revoked for patrons who abuse interlibrary loan policies.

Request limits

In order for all of the University’s library students & faculty to have reasonable access to Interlibrary Loan services, Interlibrary Loan submissions are limited to 5 per person, per day. The timeframe for materials requested to be delivered will depend upon the volume requested, the provider’s location, and the means of transmission from the lending library. Additionally, a user is limited to no more than 5 physical items (e.g., books, DVDs) from other libraries at a time (articles and book chapters are not considered physical items).

OCLC - information for other libraries

If your library participates in OCLC Resource Sharing, please submit your requests via OCLC.

Non-OCLC libraries, including New Hampshire libraries participating in NHAIS, may use the Non-OCLC Interlibrary Loan Borrowing Form to request books, media, and copies at no charge.

Books and media will be delivered to NHAIS libraries via the New Hampshire State Library van service, and to out-of-state libraries via USPS Media Mail.  Please return loaned material via the means it was delivered to you.  Copy requests will be sent to the email address you provide on the form. You may submit questions and request renewals of your material by emailing ill@snhu.edu.

Contact Us

You can contact the Interlibrary Loan Office at ill@snhu.edu.

Our mailing address:

ILL Office, Shapiro Library
Southern New Hampshire University
2500 N. River Rd.
Manchester, NH 03106-1045