Interlibrary Requests

Current Duke University students, faculty, emeritus faculty, and staff with library borrowing accounts in good standing are eligible for interlibrary borrowing. There is no charge for this service, but late fees and replacement costs apply. Visiting Scholars should consult their sponsors to find out if they are eligible for ILL. Duke community members affiliated with the Law School, the Fuqua School of Business, or the Duke Health System should contact those libraries for ILL services.

Use the Login to your ILL Account link to access your account. You’ll be able to verify or change your user information. Once you’ve saved your account information, you’ll be able to submit requests. Your initial request may take slightly longer than subsequent requests while we verify your account details.

We will try to obtain almost any type of library material. However, many libraries do not share textbooks, e-books, entire journal volumes, or materials that are rare, fragile, or in high demand. Providing as many details as possible helps us fulfill your request more quickly.

If you’ve searched Duke University Libraries resources and the item is unavailable, submit a request using the item type button on this page. If you would like to expand your search, request the item directly from WorldCat.

Arrival times of physical items will vary from a few days to a few weeks depending on shipping distances, and we cannot guarantee delivery by a specific time. We will always try to use the fastest services available to us (e.g. TRLN Direct or BorrowDirect). You will be notified when your request is available at your chosen pick-up location.

Links to article and book chapter PDFs are delivered via email. Delivery time for materials owned by Duke is usually less than 48 hours. Delivery time for materials owned by other institutions can vary between 48 hours to several days.

You can check on the progress of your request by logging into your ILL Account.

Loan periods are set by the lending library and can vary. Typical loan periods are about 6–8 weeks for print materials and about 2–3 weeks for audio-visual materials. The exact due date and if renewals are allowed will be indicated on the information slip you receive with the item.

The link we email to you to access PDFs for journal articles and book chapters is active for 60 days.

Renewals are at the discretion of the lending library and must be requested before the item’s due date. Renewals can be requested for individual items through your ILL Account. If there are no renewals available, we will try to find the same item from another source if you need it longer.

Materials received through TRLN Direct and BorrowDirect are renewable to a maximum of 120 days. The number of renewals will vary depending on your original loan period. Renewal requests for TRLN Direct and BorrowDirect items should be placed in your Library Account.

TRLN Direct provides expedited borrowing of materials from NC Central, NC State and UNC Chapel Hill libraries. Our combined collections contain over 20 million items. Requests usually arrive in 1–2 business days.

Borrow Direct provides expedited borrowing from the 13 universities of the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation, whose combined collections contain over 90 million items. Requests usually arrive in 3–5 business days.

TRLN Direct and BorrowDirect requests will appear on your ILL Account while they are being processed. Once you check them out, they’ll appear on your Library Account.

Duke Kunshan users can request scanned copies of journal articles or book chapters not available at DKU or Duke Libraries. Print books or physical items from Duke in Durham or other American libraries cannot be sent to DKU.

If you are a DKU user living in Durham, please update your profile information to reflect your current location and choose a pick-up location.

Non-OCLC institutions may create a user account to submit requests. Payments for this service can be made through the Interlibrary Requests Payments page.

Individuals who are not current Duke University students, faculty, emeritus faculty, or staff are not eligible for Interlibrary Loan services. If you are interested in borrowing our materials please consult your institution or public library about their ILL services or consider becoming a Friend of Duke University Libraries.

If you are interested in accessing archival or rare materials, please contact the Rubenstein Library.