Interlibrary loan is a service by which materials not owned by the Langston University Libraries can be borrowed from another library. Books and articles from journals not owned by the Langston University Libraries may be requested through interlibrary loan. The conditions of this service are set by the Interlibrary loan code of the American Library Association, and the regulations of each lending library.

     Students, faculty and staff may request items through interlibrary loan with a current Langston University ID.   Persons who consistently abuse circulation and interlibrary loan privileges, however, may be refused service.

     Normally, Langston University Libraries attempt to obtain interlibrary loans services without a fee attached. In the event that the only available source of a particular request has a fee, the borrower will be notified and given the option of obtaining this source.

     Most materials arrive in 7 to 10 working days, depending upon the nature of the material requested and the geographic location of the lending library.  Requests will be processed and sent as quickly as possible.  If deadlines cannot be met, the patron will be notified accordingly.  

     An individual interlibrary request form must be filled out for each book or article desired.  For books, accurate citation of author, title, date, publisher and place of publication is essential.  Requests for journal articles must include the full title of the periodical, the volume number, year, pages required, and the author and title of the article.  Listing the source of the reference is often helpful and can prevent delays in acquiring the materials.  Request forms are located at the Circulation Desk. 

     Patrons will be notified by phone or email when the material requested is available.  Material may be picked up at the Circulation Desk. 

     The Langston University Libraries do not loan the following materials: parts or complete sets of multi-volume sets, textbooks for classroom use, audio-visual materials, reference materials, or periodicals.

     Lending libraries state the terms of a loan, and the borrower must abide by these terms.  Loaned materials must be returned promptly to avoid jeopardizing  our relations with the lending library.  Patrons will be notified in writing of over due books within five working days past the due date.  Books not returned within two weeks of their due dates will be considered lost and patrons (students, staff and faculty) will be fined for the replacement cost of these items as determined by the lending libraries. Students who have unpaid library fines will be placed on a Bursar’s hold until such fines are cleared. Because libraries generally do not loan the following materials, we cannot request:  multi-volume sets, textbooks for classroom use, audio-visual materials, reference materials and entire issues of periodicals. 

     The Copyright Law [Title 17, section 107, “Fair Use,” and section 108, “Reproduction by libraries and archives,” U.S. Code] governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials by libraries and archives.  In addition, the National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works (CONTU), an advisory committee to Congress, made recommendations on the rights of reproduction and distribution of copyrighted materials by libraries and developed a set of specifications known as the CONTU Guidelines. (See: Appendix A) These guidelines were instituted to insure that both the principle of Fair Use and the rights of copyright proprietors were protected. The guidelines are a nationally accepted standard for evaluating a library’s compliance with the intent of Title 17, section 108 (g)(2) of the U.S. Code. Langston University Libraries will insure that these laws and guidelines are given full consideration when writing policies and procedures for the Libraries. The University Libraries reserve the right to refuse to accept a copying request if fulfillment of the request would violate the Copyright Law.