The most commonly requested materials in the Library are books and journal articles. The first part of this page deals with locating books when you know the author or title, and the second part deals with locating a journal when you know the title and volume number of the journal you need.
Search for books in the quick search when you know either the title or the name of the author.
If your book is either not located in the catalog or all copies are checked out, then search the I-Share catalog to see if one of the participating institutions has a copy for you to borrow.
If the item is not available in the Illinois catalog and it is not available through I-Share, then your next stop will be Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery. Login to Interlibrary Loan using your NetID and password. From the ILLiad main menu, select "Request a Book." Be sure to fill out as much of the form as possible. You'll be notifed by email when your item is ready to be picked up.
When looking for a known-journal article, you will usually be working from a citation that might look something like the following:
Polland, Annie, "'May a Freethinker Help a Pious Man?' The Shared World of the 'Religious' and the 'Secular' among Eastern European Jewish Immigrants to America," American Jewish History 93 (2007), no. 4: 375-407.
You should use the journal title (e.g., American Jewish History), not the article title, to locate your copy.
Use the Library's Journal Locator to find a journal by its title.
Step Two: Interlibrary Loan
If you were unable to find your journal article through the Journal Locator, then request the article through Interlibrary Loan. Make sure to choose "Request a photocopy". Interlibrary Loan will most likely deliver your article as a .pdf file to your email address.
