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Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery: Distance Education Students

A guide to Interlibrary Loan and document delivery services at Himmelfarb.

Distance Education ILL

Distance Education Student ILL FAQ:

How do I create an Interlibrary Loan request?

Creating a request should be fairly straight forward once you have created an Interlibrary Loan account with Documents2Go at https://himmelfarb.gwu.edu/services/ill/. Please provide as many details as you are able to regarding the citation, and include a PubMed id# if possible. Once you have submitted a request, we will do our best to obtain the article in a timely manner for you.

What types of materials can I request?

Distance Education students are able to request book chapters and articles that Himmelfarb Library does not presently own. Once we have received a PDF of your request, you will be sent a notification email in regards to where you will be able to access your PDF. Unfortunately, we are unable to ship books or any electronic formatted materials such as VHS, DVDs or CDs from other Universities to Distance Education students. 

I need to borrow a specific textbook. May I ask Himmelfarb to add it to its collection?

Absolutely! If there is a particular title of a Medical text that you would like us to consider to add to our collection, please fill out a request form at http://himmelfarb.gwu.edu/forms/acquisition.cfm.If you have any further questions regarding the purchase request process, please feel free to contact Ruth Bueter at rbueter@gwu.edu. Please keep in mind, your request may not be granted if it does not fit the criteria needed to be purchased.

Additionally, if you would rather borrow a text book from another institution, you are more than welcome to request the book be mailed to you through the Consortium Loan Services. Requests can be made through the WRLC catalog here: http://catalog.wrlc.org/search/index.php Go ahead and entire the title and once you have found the item you are searching for, hit the 'request' button, and login with your netid and password.

Important to note: You need to indicate your address in the "notes" field of the page provided for making the request.

For returns, the items should be mailed back to the lending library, or if you are local, you may return the book to a Consortium library (as listed on the WRLC main website) that is convenient to you. 

Ship to Home

The Himmelfarb Library Interlibrary Loan service can ship books directly to your residence. When we borrow a print book from another library, you can either pick it up at the library, or we can ship it to you at any location within the United States. 

How long will it take?

Once you place an Interlibrary Loan request through Documents2Go for the book that you want, you will receive an email asking to confirm if you would like to pick the book up at the Himmelfarb Library, or if you would like us to ship the book to you. We will not process your request until we have received your response. If you elect to receive item up from the Circulation Desk, we will notify you when the book arrives. We will hold onto the item until it is due back at its home library (generally 6-8 weeks). 

If you elect to have the book mailed to you, we ask that you accept the borrowing agreement that is detailed in the email you receive. After you have accepted the agreement terms, we will send the request out to find a library willing to send their copy of the book. The timing is also dependent on the shipping service the lending library uses, such as USPS, FedEx, or UPS. Shipping from the lending library to Himmelfarb generally takes 1-2 weeks, and then an additional week or so for us to send it to your location. 

Please allow roughly 3 weeks for us to get the book to you from the time you create your request. We recommend requesting materials well before you need them. 

What will it cost me?

We will send these books to you free of charge, however if you want us to ship an ILL book to your location, we ask that you pay return costs associated with shipping the book back to the Himmelfarb Library, and that you accept financial responsibility for any lost or damaged books. 

If you have any additional questions do not hesitate to contact our Interlibrary Loan department at mlbdoc@gwu.edu.

You may find more information on the Shipping Service guide