Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about ILL | ILLiad Main Menu
What is ILLiad?
The Graduate Center Library uses ILLiad software to submit, track, and manage interlibrary loan (ILL) requests. We will notify you by e-mail when your requests arrive and you can link directly to chapters and articles online through your ILL account. You can also track and renew requests online from on or off-campus.
Who can Use GC Interlibrary Loan?
ILL is offered to Graduate Center students with a current GC library barcode and no outstanding library fines. CUNY doctoral faculty, visiting GC faculty, retired GC faculty, and staff with GC IDs, and GC library barcodes are also welcome to use the service. Non-Graduate Center students, faculty with non-GC barcodes, and non-GC staff are not offered ILL services here. Try instead at your local college or public library.
What can I request using ILL and CUNY+?
You can order any journal article unavailable at the Grad Center in print through ILL. If a book is not available at the Graduate Center (on reserve, checked out, not on shelves) but is at another CUNY library, then you can request it through the CUNY+ libraries’ CLICS service. And, if a book (or any other item) is not listed in CUNY+, then you can order it through ILL.
How long does Interlibrary Loan take?
Many ILL books arrive within a week; and many electronically-delivered articles take 24 hours. However, this depends on what library is lending the item so it can vary. You can login to your ILL account to track your requests. Please contact us at ill@gc.cuny.edu if your request takes longer than you expect.
How do I renew ILL items?
Login to your ILL account, then scroll down to click on the View/Renew Checked Out Items button. We will check with the lending library to see if they'll permit your renewal. Most libraries agree to ILL renewals, but sometimes we will inform you subsequently that your renewal request is denied. If the lending library denies a renewal, please return it quickly. You can request the title again from another library. If you need to renew any item more than once, or after it is overdue, please contact us at ill@gc.cuny.edu.
Will ILL cost anything?
The Graduate Center receives a large majority of ILL items free of charge. However, some libraries do charge for loans. As long as the ILL budget allows, we will pay these fees but if we cannot we will let you know the cost so that you can decide whether to pay for it or cancel the request.
How many ILL requests may I make?
Graduate Center students may have 15 ILL requests active at any time, including books currently in your possession, as well as other books and articles in process. Once an article or book chapter is delivered to you in PDF format, it does not count against the 15-item limit. Graduate Center Faculty may have an unlimited number of requests active at any time.
How do I know when my ILL request has arrived?
You will receive an email you when your item arrives. You may also log in to your ILL account to check the status of your requests. Non-electronic items are held for you to pick-up at the GC Library Circulation Desk. When articles and books chapters are delivered in PDF format, you can find them in your ILL account. Please update your email address in your ILL account as necessary.
How do I get the quickest ILL turnaround?
To speed your ILL book (and other loan) requests, please make requests from the WorldCat database. Look for the record with the most libraries holding the item. If the record shows that your item is owned by a CUNY library (indicated by the "CUNY15" icon), then click on "Libraries Worldwide" holding the item, then on the CUNY library name to make a CLICS request. If a book is not held by a CUNY library, then click on the FindIt! at CUNY button and select the FindIt! button next to "Request Item via InterLibrary Loan." Provide your ILL username and password (you must establish an ILL account first). WorldCat will fill in the rest of the bibliographic information necessary. Click on submit, and your request is routed immediately to the ILL network without any further processing by ILL staff. You may also request periodical articles ordered using the FindIt! button from our periodical databases. If you cannot locate a book you want in WorldCat, however, just fill out an ILL online request form and our expert searchers will look for it further.
How do I create an ILL account?
Your ILL username and password will be the same as your Graduate Center network account. When you log in to ILLiad for the first time, you will be presented with the registration screen. Please fill it in completely. After submitting your information on that page you will be able to place ILL requests. Library staff will not know your password so if you do forget it, you will need to contact the IT department to resolve the issue.
What security precautions should I take using ILL?
As with any online function, Web browsers cache information and create a history file on the local workstation. This allows a subsequent user of the workstation to access the system under your name using the browser's Back button to recall it or find a page with your personal information in the browser's history file. Toi avoid this, please Exit your ILL account when you have finished using it. Also, always exit from a Web browser before leaving a public workstation. This prevents others from using the Back button to get to the pages you were using. The History view buttons have been removed from Library workstations to discourage others from viewing that cache.
How long are PDF files available on the ILL server?
Most journal article and book chapters are delivered to you in electronic PDF format (Adobe's Portable Document Format). Download Acrobat Reader free from Adobe Systems, Inc. if you don't already have it in order to read and print these files. You will receive an email when your ILL request is available. The email instructs you to link to the PDF version of your request through your ILL account. Then, click on Electronically Received Articles on the left side of the screen, under View, and click on the TN to see the pages. Copies are available for 30 days only. If you want to delete them sooner you can, but if you change your mind and want to see them again, they can only be restored within those 30 days.
Why am I not receiving ILLiad email?
We recommend that you use your Grad Center email account to receive ILL email notices. Non-GC email accounts might block our ILLiad-generated emails to you, preventing you from receiving notices about ILL books and articles. You can always update your email address yourself through your ILL account or let us know at ill@gc.cuny.edu .
How should I handle loans with more than one volume?
If you borrowed an item with multiple pieces, please return all the volumes to Interlibrary Loan together. We are required to return them all together to the library that lent them to us.
Can I return ILL items at another CUNY library?
No. Books borrowed through the Interlibrary Loan service at the Graduate Center must be returned at the Graduate Center library. If you also use Interlibrary Loan at other CUNY schools, items borrowed through those Interlibrary Loan services should be returned at the library from which you requested and checked out the item.
Who do I contact if I have questions about ILL?
Please contact us at Ill@gc.cuny.edu.