Looking for a book that’s not on the shelf? Sometimes libraries cannot keep an entire series in stock or the book goes out of print, and there is a simple solution for that – Interlibrary Loan or ILL. With ILL, you can look for material available at other libraries so you can read whatever your heart desires, so long as it is a physical book, microfilm, or a photocopy of a book or chapters.
To start, you must be an Alachua County Resident with no account balance. If you are, make sure that you have your barcode/username and PIN/password handy to take the following steps:
- Log in to your account on the library website
- Access the library's catalog
- Select Search from the top menu, then click Advanced
- Click the link Select Databases
- Check the box beside OCLC Worldcat
- Click Set Databases
- Enter the title and click Go!
- Locate the item with the book icon below it and select Place Hold
- Enter your Library Card Number and PIN/Password (default is the 4-digit year you were born) and select Log In
- Select your Pick-up Library from the drop-down menu
- Click Submit Request
If you aren’t an Alachua County Resident, you can still try and find the item on the Internet Archive, a non-profit library that has made millions of types of media available. Here you can find copies of rarer books or manga and check them out once you make an account. While not every book you search will be available, there are many that can be found on here that would otherwise not make it to our shelves.This also works on manga as well! If you are looking for a website that no longer exists, you can always use the Wayback Machine to see older, archived versions of websites that have been saved by users.
If you would like access to an academic article that may be out of print, you are also able to use JSTOR to read up to 100 articles a year with a free account. This academic database makes it possible to search scholarly magazines, publications, primary sources, and books all from the comfort of your computer.