Inter Library Loan Policy

General Information

In some cases inter library loans (ILLs) from the State Library of Queensland, the National Library of Australia, or Australian public libraries, are possible.

The State Library of Queensland is our first "port of call" for inter library loans. If they do not have the item, we may be able to loan from another library.

You must be over 18 to request an inter library loan.

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How Much does this Service Cost?

Inter library loans from the State Library of Queensland and Queensland public libraries are generally FREE.

Loans from libraries other than these will incur a fee (see information on "Other Libraries" below).

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What Requirements Must I Meet?

• You must be a permanent member of the Bundaberg Library, or a subscription member, whereby you live in a surrounding shire and pay a yearly subscription to be a member of the library. Effectively, you must be a permanent resident of Bundaberg or the surrounding area. Please note: if you live in a surrounding shire (such as Isis or Kolan) you are able to organise inter library loans through your shire library (eg, Childers or Gin Gin).

• If you are a member of the Library by virtue of a refundable security deposit, you will not be eligible for the inter library loan service.

• You must show your borrower card to request an inter library loan.

• You must be over 18 years of age.

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What Can I Borrow on ILL?

• There is a limit of three (3) items on request/loan at any one time per household.

• We will request an item on inter library loan if:
  • You wish to read a specific title, and the Bundaberg Library does not hold that title; or
  • The resources in the Bundaberg Library do not satisfy your information requirements.

• You must look thoroughly at all the relevant resources available in the Bundaberg Library before we will allow a request from the State Library, the National Library, another public library, or any other library.

When Can't I Borrow on ILL?

We will not request ILLs to aid in school, TAFE, University, or other academic assignments/research. Your school, TAFE or University Library is there to help you in this regard. Also, the item/s will not arrive in time to help you with your assignment/research.

We will not request ILLs on behalf of teachers, education auxiliary staff, etc, to aid with school projects, curriculum, etc. Education Queensland maintains a library of resources to assist teachers and others employed by the Education Department. For more information, please see their web site.

If you are a member of the Library by virtue of a refundable security deposit, you will not be eligible for the inter library loan service.

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How Long Will I Have to Wait?

• The waiting period could be anywhere from a week to a month to a year, or in rare cases, even longer. The majority of items do arrive within a reasonable time frame. However, there are exceptions.

• Bundaberg Library has no control over how long the items will take to arrive once they have been requested, as the lending libraries loan these same items to libraries other than Bundaberg. Your request is put on the reserve list, and the item will arrive when it is your turn.

• No, we cannot request special treatment or service in order to get the item here faster. Please do not ask.

• Please do not request an item if you are not willing to wait an indeterminate time for its arrival.

• Requests that remain unfulfilled 12 months from the request date will automatically expire. You will not receive notification.

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What Notification Will I Receive?

• We will notify you in writing if either:
  • your loan arrives and is ready for you to pick up; or
  • the lending library cannot supply the requested item/s (for whatever reason).

• You will have one week from the date of the notification letter to pick up your item/s. If you do not pick them up by the end of that week they will be returned to the lending library. If you foresee any difficulties in picking up the item/s within the week, please call the Library and ask to speak to the Reference Services/Internet Librarian. We may be able to arrange to hold the item for a little longer.

• We ask that you ensure we have your correct address and phone number, and email address (if applicable), on your borrower record to enable us to contact you.

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How Long May I Have the Item on Loan?

• You may have the item/s on loan for three (3) weeks providing this does not exceed the date that the item is due back at the lending library. If for some reason the loan period is longer or shorter than 3 weeks, you will be notified and expected to return the item by the due date specified.

• Items from the music collection may be on loan for two (2) weeks unless they are part of the long term loan collection. If you are borrowing on behalf of a music group/orchestra and have a set performance date, please inform the Reference Services/Internet Librarian when you request the Inter Library Loan. Generally, we are able to request to have the item on loan for a period of time to cover your performance date.
  When you borrow on behalf of a music group, the item must be issued to your personal library card. The person in whose name the library card is issued is regarded as entirely responsible for the item and any fees and charges which may be incurred for the loan, overdues, loss or damage.

• Please see the Reference Services/Internet Librarian if you wish to request that the loan be extended. Permission must be granted by the lending library before an extension will be processed.

• An item may be extended once only providing the lending library agrees to extend the loan. The loan may not be extended at all if the lending library does not give permission to do so.

• The fees imposed by the lending libraries for lost or damaged items, or items returned late, are very heavy. Therefore, we appreciate your prompt return of the item/s you have borrowed.

• Some libraries, including the State Library of Queensland, may at times specify that the loaned item is to be used in the library only (ie. the borrower is not to take the item outside of the Bundaberg Library).

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What About ILLs from "Other Libraries"?

• If you wish to request an ILL from a library other than the State Library of Queensland or most Queensland public libraries, then you will be charged a fee.

• It is up to the lending library (not Bundaberg Library) as to what that fee will be.

• Generally, the fee is $13.20 (incl. GST) per item. However, sometimes this fee differs. The Reference Services/Internet Librarian will contact the lending library and ascertain the fee before contacting you to inform you of the fee, and to ask if you still wish to go ahead with the loan.

• The fee is to be paid when you pick up the loan. You will not be able to borrow/use the item without first paying the fee.

• The same rules that apply to ILLs from the State Library of Queensland or a public library, as outlined previously in this policy, also apply to ILLs from "other libraries".

• An ILL request from an "other library" is included in the maximum of three (3) requests/loans that you are permitted to have at any one time.

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What if I Lose or Damage an Item, or Incur Fees?

The fees and charges levied by lending libraries for lost or damaged items can be quite heavy and may include a substantial administration fee, on top of the cost of replacing the item. Administration fees are payable even when/if the item is returned.

If you lose or damage an item, or incur any fees at all from the lending library, you will be responsible for paying those fees in full. Fees must be paid in full before you will be permitted to borrow any further items from Bundaberg Library or on inter library loan from other libraries.

If you fail to return an inter library loan, a ban will be placed on your borrowing card, and potentially on the borrowing cards of everyone in your household, until the loan is returned and/or any fees and charges paid for by you. The ban will prevent you, and potentially others in your household, from borrowing items from the Bundaberg Library, or from any other library on inter library loan.

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ILLs from Bundaberg Library to Other Libraries

For libraries wishing to request an item on inter library loan from Bundaberg Library the following basic criteria apply.

We will loan:

• adult non fiction books
• adult non fiction book tapes (not housed in our special collection)
• some adult fiction - generally older and not-so-popular books (We may choose not to loan volumes from some series)
• some adult ficton book tapes (not houses in our special collection)

Items we generally will not loan:

• Book Tapes (housed in our special collection)
• videos / DVDs / CDs
• popular titles
• new titles
• items from the junior and youth collections
• items from the Reference Collection
• items required to support academic research/coursework (TAFE, school, university, etc).
• items in poor/fragile condition

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