STEM Faculty: Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary Loan, also known as ILL, is a free service we offer to all faculty at WCU. A few tips to make ILL work efficiently for you:

• Find and use the ISSN or ISBN when requesting articles and books.
• Provide as much information as you can, including the link to where you found the information, if possible. 
• If you have an OCLC number for an item, include that in the notes field (this is more common for books).
• To request a standard, include the full standard number, the title, the issuing body, and the year.
• For dissertations and theses, please be sure to check OATD or the library's website of the university where the dissertation or thesis was completed. Current dissertations and theses are often found online easily, but older years may require a search of the library's catalog to find whether existing copies are available in print or electronically.

A few other things to note about ILL services:

• Except books, most items arrive electronically as a PDF.
• Many libraries do not loan brand new books, particularly popular reading such as best sellers and fiction materials.
• Inability to obtain an item using ILL services can happen for many reasons. You can always check with your liaison if you have questions about this or any other aspect of ILL.

ABC Express is a service between UNCA, App State, and WCU (Asheville, Boone, Cullowhee) that allows students, faculty, and staff to borrow physical items from any of the these schools without having to utilize interlibrary loan.  To use ABC Express:

1. Perform a search in the library catalog with the location set to WNCLN instead of just WCU.
2. Use the Request option to request an item. 
   
   
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3. Enter in your WCU ID and password to submit the request.
4. Choose your pickup location (generally, WCU Circulation Desk).
5. You'll receive an email when ABC items are available for pickup.
6. ABC items do not circulate for the same amount of time as items from WCU so be sure to check your due date!