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Interlibrary Loan: Home

Library material not owned by the Simmons University Library may be borrowed from other libraries for free. Log In using the button below, and submit the appropriate request form. We will reach out to other libraries on your behalf. You will be notified via email when the item is available.

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Attention Interlibrary Loan Users: The Simmons University Library has recently upgraded to a new Interlibrary Loan system. If you are a returning user:

  • Article and book chapter requests submitted before July 17th, 2023, will not be visible in your new ILL account. If you recently submitted an article request and you do not see it in your new account, there’s a chance it’s in our old system. You can use this link to access the old system.
  • Requests made in the old system (borrowing history) will not be visible in your new ILL account. However, we can provide copies of this upon request.
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Contact Interlibrary Loan

ill@simmons.edu

(617) 521-2796

Information for other libraries

Most standard document types are available to borrow: books, book chapters, articles, reports, conference papers, theses, etc. In the end, we’ll make every attempt to obtain any type of document you may need.
Some items are harder to come by than others. Many electronic items, such as whole e-books, audio books and streaming videos, are limited by copyright or licensing restrictions. These items very often cannot be borrowed through Interlibrary Loan. Also, rare, archival and special collections items are similarly difficult to obtain, although sometimes the owning institution will make an electronic scan if the length of the request is within reason. In any case, we encourage you to submit your request and we’ll do our best to locate a suitable copy.
There are presently no limits on the number of requests that can be made. The library reserves the right to alter this policy at any time. If an excessive number of requests is submitted by a single user, we may contact you for context, or to discuss a more suitable pacing of requests.

Electronic material: most electronic items (book chapters and articles) are delivered to your ILL account and can be downloaded as a PDF file. Files are usually available to you within 5 days of your initial request. You will be notified via email when the file is ready. Please be aware of the following time restrictions:

  • A PDF document will be purged from your account if you do not access it within 30 days of it first becoming available.
  • After you first view or download a PDF, it will remain available for another 60 days, after which time it will no longer be available.

Print Books: we offer three delivery options for hard copy books, depending on your Simmons status. You can choose which option you prefer when you submit your request.

  • Service Desk Pick-up: available to all Simmons members.
  • Home Delivery: available to all Simmons members (except students living on campus). With this option, when the item arrives on campus, we will re-route it to your home address via United States Postal Service.
  • Office Delivery: available to Simmons faculty with a campus office address. With this option, we will deliver the item to your department office or mailbox.

You may request a due date extension by logging into your ILL account, locating the item you want to renew and select “Renew”. Some items can be renewed more than once, but this depends on the owning library’s local policies.

Please note that an item cannot be renewed after the due date has passed. However, you can always return your copy and request a new one. This is completely fine.