Interlibrary & Intralibrary Loan

Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary Loan services are a cooperative arrangement through which libraries throughout the world loan to and borrow materials from one another. Many libraries, including MiraCosta, use the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) to facilitate the Interlibrary Loan service. OCLC presently provides online access to close to 20 million titles.

If a book or periodical article you need is not in the MiraCosta College Library collection, we will be happy to obtain it for you from another library. There is currently no charge for this service; for this reason, we do reserve the right to limit the number of items we can request for you at one time. The average turnaround time for such requests is 10 - 14 days. Usually books received may be borrowed for approximately two weeks; some libraries allow renewals. Periodical articles requested for you are reprinted and sent to MiraCosta with no expectation of the copies being returned. Nonprint items are not available through Interlibrary Loan.

The librarian at the Reference Desk will be happy to facilitate your request. Please provide a complete bibliographic citation for each item you need. The library personnel will locate the item at the most convenient location, and will notify you when it is received.

Intralibrary Loan

The Intralibrary Loan is the procedure used to move items between campuses. All items except those on reserve may be requested at either campus. A courier goes between campuses twice a day, Monday through Friday, and will bring books, videos, CDs, and long playing items back and forth. Copies of periodical articles held at only one of the campuses can be requested. Materials may be returned at either campus as well.