Skip to Main Content

Civil War America, 1848-1877

A study of the United States from the end of the war with Mexico to the end of Reconstruction with emphasis on the coming and course of the Civil War and the reunion of the nation at the war’s end.

What is Interlibrary Loan (ILL)?

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a service provided to USI students, faculty, and staff that provides access to materials not available at Rice Library.

Items USI patrons routinely borrow through ILL include:

  • books
  • audio-visual materials
  • journal articles
  • book chapters
  • theses/dissertations
  • other desired items

Requesting An Interlibrary Loan

Check Rice Library First

  • Be sure that Rice Library does not own the item you need before submitting an Interlibrary Loan request.  If you submit an ILL request for an item Rice Library owns, the ILL Unit will cancel your request and notify you.
  • For books and audiovisual, search the Catalog first.
  • For journals, magazines, and newspapers, check Journal Finder first.

Placing a New Request From Your ILL Account

  • In the Main Menu (left hand side) under "New Request," select:
    • "Copy" for articles and chapters from books.
    • "Audio/Visual Loan" for audio or visual materials.
    • "Book Loan"  for books.
    • "Dissertation/Thesis Loan" for Dissertations or Theses.
  • Fill in as much information as you know about the item.
    • Article requests require the journal title, article title, volume number, issue number, date and page numbers.
    • Book requests require title, author, publisher and date.
    • Dissertation/thesis requests require the author, title, date and originating university.

  • Note: If you are able to supply the ISBN, ISSN, or OCLC number, it will help expedite the request process.  These numbers are usually found in the original citation of the item or article.  If you are unable to furnish these numbers, it is OK, just leave it blank.

Placing a Request Using Article Linker

  • When you find an article in one of Rice Library's databases, you will first want to check for availability.  The article linker, "check for availability" link will be on the left or right side of the citation depending on the database.

  • If Rice Library owns this article in another database, it will look like this:

              

  • If Rice Library does not own the article, you can "Request It!" though Interlibrary Loan.

  • When you request an article through article linker, it will complete the request form for you.  All you need to do is fill out the fields with the * and click submit.