An Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a book or document obtained, on your behalf, by your hometown library. The resources you request may come from another library or media center in the same county, or from within the state of New Jersey, or from a library as far away as Alaska! Most ILL services are free, but you may be asked if you would approve a borrowing fee. Only the UPL patron who requested the ILL is authorized to pick-up the ILL from the Library.
ILL Lending Policy:
- All borrowers who live, work, or attend school in Union must have a current UPL library card. To obtain a library card, please stop by the Circulation Desk.
- There is a limit of 3 ILL requests at any one time.
- Patrons will have 3 business days to pick-up the ILL at the Circulation desk. Circulation staff will contact the patron via phone.
- Patrons can check-out the ILL for 21 days.
- Patrons can request one 14-day renewal if needed by contacting the Reference Department.
- If a book is lost or damaged, patrons will be charged a replacement fee set by the lending library.
- Failure to return an ILL on time, may result in the loss of future ILL requests.
We will make every effort to:
- Borrow books and audiovisual material for UPL patrons.
- Obtain articles from newspapers, journals and magazines not held by UPL.
- Notify you by phone when the item is received.
Are there restrictions on the types of materials that can be requested?
- Rare materials
- Reference items
- Materials that do not circulate
- Certain audiovisual materials
- Entire issues of journals
- Bestsellers or items published within the past 6 months
- Items owned by UPL, but currently in circulation
How long will it take to get the item I requested?
There are several factors involved:
- Availability of item
- Geographic location of lending library
- Copyright clearance for articles
- Restrictions placed by the owning library
- Books that are held and available at Union County public libraries usually take 4-9 working days. Other books could take several weeks. Articles usually take an average of 10 working days; some may come in sooner while others may take longer.
