Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Borrowing

The Law Library offers Interlibrary Loan services to law students, faculty, and staff to assist them in obtaining materials for their coursework, journal articles, and research projects. Other CU-Boulder students should contact the Interlibrary Loan department at Norlin .

Students desiring to borrow items for personal purposes as well as public patrons should contact the Interlibrary Loan department at their local public library.

The Law Library participates in several library cooperative ventures that allow us to borrow and lend materials with other libraries. This greatly expands the resources available to our patrons.

Be sure to search Lawpac, the Law Library catalog, and Chinook, the University Libraries catalog, before ordering materials through ILL. We do not order via ILL any materials which are currently held by a library on the CU Boulder campus.

Prospector

Prospector : a unified catalog of academic, public and special libraries in Colorado and Wyoming. With a single search you can identify and borrow materials from the collections and have them delivered to your local library.

To search for and order books through Prospector (ordering books for pickup at the Law Library is limited to law faculty, staff and students ):

  1. Search for the book in Lawpac , the Law Library catalog. If you receive a "No matches found" message select the Prospector link at the top of the results page.
  2. Once you have located the item you wish to request select "Request This Item."
  3. Next, indicate with which library you are affiliated. Be sure to select UC Law-Boulder. If you select UC-Boulder the item will go to Norlin Library and you will have to pick it up and return it to Norlin.
  4. Fill in your name and ID and select "Submit Above Information." When the book is received by the Law Library a notice will be emailed to you or placed in your campus mailbox informing you of its arrival. The item will be held at the Law Library Circulation desk.

If you have any questions about using Prospector please ask a member of the Circulation or Reference departments for assistance.

FirstSearch

FirstSearch : a catalog containing the records of thousands of libraries worldwide. Law Library faculty, staff and students can use FirstSearch to locate and request books or articles from participating libraries.

To search for and order books through the FirstSearch database (ordering books for pickup at the Law Library is limited to law faculty, staff and students):

  1. ALWAYS check Lawpac, Chinook and Prospector before requesting books via FirstSearch. If the book you need is not available then use FirstSearch to request the material.
  2. Use the FirstSearch database to locate the item you wish to obtain through Interlibrary Loan.
  3. Select the "Interlibrary Loan (ILL)" icon at the top of the screen. You will be given an electronic form to fill-out.
  4. Please enter the following information on the form:
    • NAME = Your Name
    • EMAIL = your CU email address
    • MAXIMUM COST = Leave this line BLANK. The system defaults to $15.00 and the Library pays the cost of borrowing materials up to $15.00.
    • DATE NEEDED = This defaults to 30 days from date of the request. (NOTE: If you indicate a significantly shorter length of time you risk not receiving the material. Material is generally received in 10-14 days.)
    • COMMENTS = If the item is held by the Law Library or Norlin, but unavailable, indicate that here. Also note if ordering as an RA for a professor. In some cases, this is also where cite info for an article goes. Otherwise leave this section blank.
  5. After reviewing for accuracy, click the "Submit" button. If you have omitted any pertinent information, you will be prompted for it at this time.
  6. When the item is received at the Law Library a notice will be emailed to you or placed in your campus mailbox indicating that the item is ready for pick-up at the Circulation desk.
  7. If you have any questions regarding the FirstSearch services please ask a Reference Librarian.