Cal Poly

About Interlibrary Services

Interlibrary Services borrows books or materials not available at Kennedy Library from other lending institutions. Made up of a network of thousands of libraries all around the world, ILS can often get you the research materials you need, even if they are hundreds of miles away.

Using ILS Services

Borrowing Privileges

Patron	ILS Fees
Cal Poly Affiliates	Free
Cal Poly Alumni	Alumni with active alumni cards may borrow 12 items per year; register your alumni card at the circulation desk. Please contact ILS staff to find out more about our full range of services.
Community Patrons	$60.00 per year; $10 for each interlibrary loan request.

What can you borrow?

Eligible Materials

• Books
• Journal articles
• Dissertations

Ineligible Materials

• Patents
• Genealogical materials
• Rare, old or very valuable books
• Most new books
• Whole issues of journals
• Preprints or unpublished works
• Reference books
• Computer software

Using ILS

1. Check PolyCat.
   We probably have what you need. If we don't, go to the next step.
2. Check Link+ (Cal Poly students, faculty, staff & emeriti only).
   Link+ is a consortium of west coast libraries in which we belong. You can get items from Link+ quicker than regular ILS. Only go to the next step if you can't get your materials through Link+. Request your materials through ILS.
3. Request your materials through ILS.

Receiving Printed Materials

You will receive email notification when your materials are available for pick up. Simply go to the ILS department located in Circulation at the front of the library. You can also check the status of your requests through My PolyCat.

Receiving Electronic Materials

• Be sure to save documents you may need in the future.
• Borrowers can download requested journal articles or other electronic files for two weeks or 15 views. Documents are then deleted.
• Articles you download are yours to keep.

Borrowing timeframes

The length of time you may borrow materials through ILS depends on the lending institution that is providing the material. Typically, users can borrow books for one to four weeks. Users can download electronic materials for download for two weeks or until the document has been viewed 15 times.

Returning Materials

Return materials to the ILS department or to the Circulation desk. Do not return materials in the outside library drop boxes.

Renewing Materials

Some materials are available for renewals. Your notification email as well as your My PolyCat account will indicate if the lending institution allows renewals. Remember to request a renewal within two days of the due date. You are allowed one renewal for 21 days.

Fines

Patrons with late materials receive a $1.00 per day per item fine that is automatically added to the patron's record.

Need more information? Check out the ILS FAQ.