Borrowing for AU Students, Faculty and Staff:

Tips for placing a successful ILL or CLS request:
•     It’s very important to state on the request form where you found your citation.  We can use this information to assist us in our search and greatly reduce the time it takes to get the article or book into your hands.

•    Performing a title search in WorldCat may be the best way to verify your citation, and this will also provide you with an OCLC number for your request.

•    OCLC or ISBN numbers for books and ISSN numbers for articles are very helpful to library staff and including this type of information when placing your requests will help expedite the process. 

•    If you have received an “unavailable” notice for a CLS request, and you would now like for us to find it through ILL, including information about this notice in the ILL request’s comments section will help our staff determine whether we should attempt a search of WRLC libraries.

•    For frequently asked questions, please visit our FAQ page.

Requesting Books or Journal Articles:

Step one:         Search the Aladin Catalog by the book or journal title.

Step two:        If the book is owned by a WRLC school, it can be ordered through Consortium Loan Service (CLS) by clicking on the yellow post-it note link. Note: To check item availability at George Mason, Georgetown, or Howard, select the “holdings” link provided in the individual catalog records for that item.

Step three:       

Option A)    If the item is not available through CLS, you can search WorldCat for the title and then select the link that says "Request this item through ILL." This will prompt you to log in to your MyALADIN account and will take you to our request form.
Option B)    If you are not requesting the material through WorldCat, please log into your MyALADIN account and select the ILLiad Log in link near the center of your homepage.

Loan period for CLS/ILL Materials:

Borrowers from other WRLC universities:

Borrowers from other WRLC universities may use the Consortium Loan Service (CLS) to have books and copies of articles from our collections delivered for pick-up at their home libraries. Please place CLS requests through the ALADIN online catalog.
WRLC borrowers may also visit American University Library to copy journal articles and check out materials directly.  Be sure to bring your valid home university ID.

Lending to other libraries and institutions:

AU participates in facilitated borrowing within the Washington Research Libraries Consortium (WRLC).Libraries not affiliated with the WRLC may also make requests. Generally other libraries submit requests to us via the OCLC ILL system by using library symbol EAU.

Libraries that don't participate in OCLC may use either the online form for books or the one for articles.  Please try to avoid creating duplicate accounts for the same institution and call 20-2885-3240 if you are unsure or if you need assistance.

Charges per request are as follows:

*Add $25 to loan charge for items rushed

Items that cannot be borrowed from AU:

For ILL/CLS assistance please contact:

Adam Zaby
ILL Coordinator
202-885-2779
zaby@american.edu

Andrea Paredes-Herrera
ILL Borrowing Specialist
202-885-3852
andreaph@american.edu

Andrew Bertaina
ILL Lending Specialist
202-885-3240
bertaina@american.edu