Interlibrary loan process makes swift, free connections

The thesis research process for East Carolina University music graduate student Matthew Mantini could have been costly, including when he was interested in one full score that cost $255 to rent.

Graduate student Matthew Mantini uses interlibrary loan to collect scores by composer Louise Talma. (Photo by Ronnie Woodward)

Mantini, instead, turned to ECU Libraries’ interlibrary loan services to acquire the score and dozens of other free materials to advance his research on composer Louise Talma.

“This has been invaluable,” Mantini said. “Frankly, I wouldn’t be able to pursue this topic without it. I would be spending lots of money traveling to and from other libraries and begging them for permission to make digital copies of their materials. That would be unsustainable while enrolled full time in classes.”

Arwen Parris’ introduction to Mantini, who is dual enrolled in composition and music theory in the Master of Music program, was memorable. She arrived in Joyner Library and logged in to her computer to see a wave of 43 interlibrary loan requests, all from Mantini.

“It was a lot. I came in one morning and was like, ‘What happened, and who is this person?’” said Parris, interlibrary loan borrowing manager for ECU Academic Library Services, which includes the Music Library.

Parris, William Gee and James Stroud form the interlibrary loan team at Joyner. Noel Kincaid is the interlibrary loan manager at Laupus Health Sciences Library.

They use a network of thousands of other libraries to locate and obtain items, giving ECU students, staff and faculty free access to requested materials. ECU also receives regular requests for its materials and ships them as part of interlibrary loan and borrowing procedures and relationships.

“I marvel at how ILL connects library systems across the world to bring hard-to-find — and hard-to-access — items at no cost to our local patrons,” Parris said.

Like Mantini, Charity Pollitz is an advocate for ILL services. Pollitz lives in Charlotte and graduated in December with a Master of Arts in history. She echoed similar statements to Mantini that interlibrary loan assistance significantly aided her research and completion of her degree, especially as a distance education student.

Arwen Parris prepares a book to be shipped via interlibrary loan.

“Yes, we can find a lot of sources online, but you can’t find everything,” Pollitz said. “So what ILL did is it made my degree possible. There is no way I would have been able to participate to the level that I needed to without that department. There is no way.”

Pollitz also is a full-time caregiver. She said a strength of ILL is the quick turnaround time.

“I would make a request and within that week, nine times out of 10, that source was in my home,” Pollitz said. “The turnaround is incredible and very fast. The whole process is easy and simple from beginning to end. I think students should use it, if they want to do their best and get the most out of their experience at ECU. Whatever their degree is, it can help give them the best experience possible.”

Laupus lends thousands of articles and books per year, including to hospitals and other health care agencies to help directly with patient care. In addition to ECU Health and Eastern AHEC as nearby partners, the list of hospitals Laupus has helped includes Fayetteville’s Womack Army Medical Center, Duke University Medical Center, Charlotte AHEC, Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, and Kettering Health Dayton.

Joyner has provided materials to more than 1,600 libraries during the past two years. This includes to each of the other UNC System institutions, to 25 in-state public libraries and to libraries in 13 countries, including South Africa, Australia, India, Sweden and New Zealand.

“It’s always a pleasure to serve students,” Parris said. “I am proud and grateful to be a part of the ILL program and library team at ECU.”