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The following are instructions for MVLS member library staff ONLY. If you are a member of the public, please contact your local library for assistance with interlibrary loan requests.

Your first step for interlibrary loan is the MVLS/SALS catalog.

If you are unable to locate the item you need in the MVLS/SALS catalog, your next step will be to search the local CDLC region and place a request yourself.

Search the Capital District Library Council (CDLC) catalog, LiNX (formerly CaDiLaC), to see the holdings of most academic, public, school and special libraries in the Capital region. Then send a request to the appropriate lender using the eForm within LiNX. Information about using LiNX, managing accounts and profiles, retrieving statistics etc can be found on CDLC’s LiNX tutorial page.

Most items from within the CDLC region are delivered to your library through the MVLS courier directly from the loaning CDLC library. When items are received, your library will be responsible for:

  • Creating a temporary ILL circulation record in Polaris
  • Circulating the item per ILL loaning institution instructions
  • Returning items to the lender

If using the MVLS courier to return ILL items, please see the Delivery Service Instructions page for the proper way to label ILL materials.

If items are mailed from the lending library to you through the US Postal Service, we recommend that your library return the item, (especially if rare, unique or microfilm) through the US Postal Service library rate so that the item is trackable. This fee can be passed along to the patron per local library policy.

If you are not able to locate the material within CDLC, Crandall Public Library (GLE) will provide OCLC searching on a contractual basis for MVLS libraries beginning July 1, 2023.

To send a request to GLE for OCLC searching, fully complete the appropriate ILL request form. A copy of the form will also be sent to the library completing it.

GLE will search OCLC for you and submit the request on your behalf.

If available, the item will be mailed directly to your library.

When the item is received, your library is reponsible for:

  • Notifying GLE by email (gle-ill@sals.edu) that the item was received so that OCLC can be updated
  • Creating a temporary ILL circulation record in Polaris
  • Circulating the item per ILL loaning institution instructions (Remember that the due date on the paperwork you receive is the date the item is due back at the loaning library, not the date the patron needs to return it to you – you should set the patron’s due date to allow plenty of time for the item to make it back to the owner in time.)
  • Requesting a renewal, if needed, via GLE, with appropriate notice (don’t ask the day before the due date! It’s already overdue by then.)
  • Returning the item through US Postal Service Library Rate mail or other trackable shipping method, packed appropriately to prevent damage in transit (sturdy boxes, bubble wrap, etc – especially for fragile items or microfilm)
  • Notifying GLE by email (gle-ill@sals.edu) that the item has been returned through USPS or other shipping method so that OCLC can be updated.

Every attempt is made to borrow the item without cost, but at times the only locations that own a title may charge a fee. Please talk with your patron about potential fees and the maximum amount they are willing to pay BEFORE submitting an ILL request form. GLE will not place a request that has a higher fee than is authorized without contacting your library first.

Member libraries are responsible for any borrowing and postage fees, and may bill patrons accordingly. GLE will bill each member library directly for loaning fees that are incurred.

Procedural questions for any of the above can be directed to:

The basic sleeve that MVLS previously used to assist in loaning materials to your patrons is below. You may use these, or some other method, to temporarily barcode items in order to circulate them in Polaris.    
ILL Courtesy Form-In Library     
ILL Courtesy Form

Our libraries are borrowers, but we are also lenders! If your library receives a request to loan material you own via a LiNX request form from another CDLC library, please respond in a timely fashion! When your library loans material out to a CDLC library, use the requesting library’s ILL agency card in Polaris to check the materials out. Each school, academic, and UHLS library has an ILL agency card in Polaris with a 6-digit barcode that begins with 8 –all of the ILL agency cards in Polaris are easily located by searching for patron first name =ILL. Be sure to print out and include paperwork with all materials.