How does Interlibrary Loan (ILL) work? (The following is a very brief explanation of the ILL process for you.)
We request the item for you through a very large network of U.S.-based libraries--public and academic.
When we send out the request via this system, we find up to five libraries whose records reflect that they might have the item you are requesting in their collections.
Each library, in the order in which we select them, will check its collection to determine if the item is there, and respond.
If a library has the item and will send it to us, then the request is processed; and the item is shipped to us for you.
In turn, we do the same for libraries across the U.S. who find items in our collection that they wish to borrow for their patrons.