Q. Why was my ILL canceled?

Sometimes an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Librarian will have to cancel requests due to a number of reasons. There may be other options available to you, so read on below. Typically we try to explain the reason in an email to you if this does happen, though sometimes we cannot be sure of the reason. Reasons often include: 

• The material is recently published and not many libraries have it yet or have processed their copies for use yet, thus we cannot find a library willing to lend it at this time. You could suggest that our library purchase the material here. Please feel free to attempt to ILL again when more libraries may have purchased and processed their copies. Oftentimes, libraries are not willing to lend new material out until their users have had a chance to access it. That is our policy as well for lending out our materials to other libraries. 
• The material is from another country. We do not typically borrow books or items only found in other countries due to payment options and shipping costs. Also, if the material was published in another country, such as a DVD, it may not be compatible with our media players in the U.S. even if we were able to get it. Archival material a library owns that are copies of originals may have been produced under another country's copyright exemptions, so they may not be able to send to the U.S. either. 
• The material is rare and not many libraries own it or are willing to lend rare material. This includes indie or self-published works. In the case of rare materials that we cannot coordinate for you, you might have to contact the institution on your own and work out access yourself. Sometimes, they want one-on-one interaction and no middle person. For indie books, you might use the Suggest a Resource form (link above in a previous bullet point). For books that are very old, they may not be able to ship due to the fragile nature of the material. You could attempt a request for a scanned portion(s) or even the table of contents (TOC) (to learn what portion what might be relevant). The libraries may be more willing to supply copies over sending the material itself. 
• The material has made us reach our max copyright limits and therefore we cannot acquire the material without breach of copyright guidelines. This is typically in regards to copies of articles requested, not with loaned print material. TCC's ILL program follows CONTU guidelines. 
• The material is already owned by the TCC Library in some fashion (we already grant access). These will typically be filled via Document Delivery if it a portion can be scanned in for you or a hold for the material placed on your account if it is a circulating item. If non-circulating (such as if it is a Reserves item), we will notify you where (what campus) the item is available to use. 

If you have questions about a cancellation please contact the Access Services Office, not library staff (as they will not be able to look at your request history): InterLibraryLoan@tulsacc.edu or 918-595-7568.