Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery

If you need materials that are not in the collections at Life West library, please ask for an interlibrary loan (ILL).

Life West library has established reciprocal lending arrangements with many libraries in the Bay Area and throughout the United States.

ILL policies

• Turnaround time for copies of journal articles is usually 2-5 days, and 2-4 weeks for books and audiovisual materials.
• Anyone requesting returnable materials such as a book or audiovisual must hold a current Life West library card.
• Journal articles become the property of the requestor, and should not be further redistributed without permission of the copyright holder.
• For students, faculty and staff:  Library will cover the expense of interlibrary loan charges within the following limits:
  • The cost cap for an individual has not been exceeded
  • The requests are related to the college mission or curriculum
• For other users:  Library will process requests on a fee for service basis for materials related to health sciences research and practice.
• For overdue returnable materials, the library will send an overdue notice after five days, and a billing notice for the value of the item plus $20.00 processing fees after 10 days.

Document delivery policies 

• Students:  Library provides technical support as needed, but does not reproduce materials on behalf of students. 
• Faculty:  Library provides delivery service, preferably no more than 25 requests per month for journal articles.  Self-service copiers are available to instructors at no cost. 
• All other users:  Library provides photocopy services from books and journals on a fee for service basis.  Turnaround time is about one week.

For materials in our collections, the library provides copy services when permitted.  Library staff respects copyright and publishers' licensing agreements.

Document delivery procedures

Delivery of photocopies and interlibrary loans is fee-based, in order to recover costs.  See Fees for Service. 

Doctors who frequently find articles using PubMed may wish to register for Loansome Doc in order to automate requests for document delivery.

Delivery methods:

• Photocopies are generally delivered by mail. 

• Rush delivery within 24 hours is surcharged, and delivered by FAX or by PDF e-mail attachment when our license allows.  Be aware that some publishers do not allow the library to furnish copies of journal articles in PDF format.  Kindly inform us if your email service cannot accept PDF attachments.  We will opt to post the PDF to a third-party service at no additional cost, and provide you with a link to the document.  The third-party service will store the file for a limited time.

Suggested procedure for ordering an article:

• Contact library@lifewest.edu.  Your request will be referred to one of the librarians within one work day.
• Or call the circulation desk at 510-780-4507 and ask for the reference librarian on duty.
• A librarian will reply by e-mail or telephone about the availability and estimated cost of the requested articles.  Occasionally additional copyright fees apply, in which case the librarian will inform you in advance.
• If you approve of the estimated costs, provide your payment information
• A receipt will be sent 

Suggested procedure for making payment:

• Credit card is the preferred method of payment:  American Express, Discover, MasterCard or Visa.
• In order to protect privacy, doctors should provide credit card information by telephone, and only to the librarian who is working on the request.
• The Library also accepts payment by cash or check on-site, and by mailed check (alumni only). 
• Frequent users can set up a deposit account. A receipt stating current balance will be sent with the delivered documents.

Optional Payment method for international requests only:

In lieu giving credit card information on the telephone, doctors practicing in countries outside of North America can send two separate e-mail messages:

1. name, address, the type of card and number in a one message, sent to the librarian’s personal work e-mail address.  See staff directory.
2. the expiration date and code from the back of the card in another message sent to library@lifewest.edu with Subject:  “Message for [name of librarian] ”.