Interlibrary Loan Portal: RILINK Interlibrary Loan Policy

RILINK has developed a consortium-level Interlibrary Loan Policy (posted in the box below) for two purposes:

1. To support RILINK's mission to foster innovative learning and creative research in school libraries through partnerships and resource sharing for student success.

2. To assist RILINK members in meeting LORI Certification requirements that dictate that each LORI member library must clearly post its Interlibrary Loan Policy on its website.

• Member libraries that do not write and publish their own Interlibrary Loan Policies may link to this page from their own RICAT home page, LibGuides home page, or school library website. Your web page should link to this complete URL: http://guides.rilink.org/ILL/RILINKpolicy

OR

• Member libraries that do write and publish their own Interlibrary Loan Policies on their own RICAT home page, LibGuides home page, or school library website must use this consortium-level policy as a minimum guideline (in other words, nothing in the individual library's policy may conflict with the terms in this policy).  

Read the complete RILINK Interlibrary Loan Policy below.

RILINK Interlibrary Loan Policy
(adopted February 3, 2016; revised September 21, 2020)
 

Please note: This consortium-level policy is meant to serve as a minimum guideline for RILINK member libraries. If a RILINK member library does not have its own Interlibrary Loan Policy, this policy will automatically apply. To inquire about a specific member library’s individual policy, please contact the library directly through the RILINK Member Directory.

For the purposes of this policy, interlibrary loan refers to both borrowing (requesting) and lending (supplying) of materials.

RILINK’s mission is to foster innovative learning and creative research in school libraries through partnerships and resource sharing for student success.

In support of this mission, RILINK encourages all of its eligible member libraries* to join the LORI Network and actively participate in interlibrary loan and resource sharing.

RILINK member libraries that become LORI member libraries and participate in resource sharing and interlibrary loan must meet the requirements of the LORI Standards and are expected to adhere to the following interlibrary loan policy:

• All items in a participating library’s collection that are generally available to the library’s local patrons must also be available through interlibrary loan to all LORI member libraries

• Interlibrary loan requests must be filled (or declined) as quickly as possible

• Interlibrary loan requests will be filled at the discretion of the school librarian

• Interlibrary loan requests may be placed by patrons or library staff, depending on the needs of individual member libraries

• Materials sent to fulfill interlibrary loan requests will be circulated for a minimum of 28 days to allow ample delivery time on either end of the loan period

• Maximum interlibrary loan checkouts will be determined by individual member libraries

• There is no charge for interlibrary loan transactions, with the following exceptions:

  • requesting libraries may charge overdue fines to requesting patrons who return interlibrary loan items late

  • requesting libraries may be billed the replacement cost of damaged or lost interlibrary loan items at the discretion of supplying libraries

• A member library’s own patron hold requests will take precedence over interlibrary loan requests for the same item

• Interlibrary loan requests may not be declined based solely on a requested item’s format

• Items that are specifically reserved for in-library or classroom use may be temporarily excluded from interlibrary loan as needed

• Any other collection items or special collections that are unavailable for interlibrary lending must be specified in the member library’s individual interlibrary loan policy; such restrictions must not violate compliance with the LORI Standards