Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a service we provide for our customers, and fees may apply. The ILL process may take several weeks, as it involves making a request in a national database and waiting for libraries owning the requested title to respond to the request and ship the book. ILL is only for books; digital material, media, CDs, audiobooks, DVDs, Blu-rays, copies, etc., are not available through ILL. If a book is owned by a local library in Maricopa County, we encourage you to visit that library and get a library card there (free to Maricopa County residents). Benefits from checking out a book directly from a local library include getting the item quicker, having it for a longer check-out period, and being able to renew it. If you wish to proceed with our ILL service, please keep in mind the following:

  1. MCLD has adopted procedures to limit the lending and shipping costs of books requested from other libraries for our customers.

    1. Lending Fees

      Whenever possible, MCLD submits requests to libraries that do not charge for lending their materials to us. For rare publications, there are generally costs associated with this. If the lending library charges MCLD for loaning the book, that amount will be charged to the customer.

      • MCLD staff will contact the customer via email before processing any request that we anticipate will carry fees.
      • The amount provided will be an estimate (not guaranteed cost).
      • Customers will need to provide a written (email) or verbal (phone) approval of charges before the request will be processed.
      • Any fees charged by the lending library to MCLD will be added to the customer's account.

    2. Shipping Fees

      There is a $6 processing fee that is charged to you for each book we are able to obtain. If the item is from a local public library in Maricopa County, we may be able to obtain the book without charging you the shipping fee.

    3. All charges and fees for requests are to be paid before checking out book(s). If you do not pick up your ILL items, you are still responsible for the fees on your account.

  2. Requests may be submitted via the web form on mcldaz.org (click on Contact Us -> Ask a Librarian -> Interlibrary Loan) or in person at your library.

  3. Customers are allowed two (2) active requests at a time.

  4. ILL requests cannot be fulfilled for books that have been published in the past 12 months.

  5. Books loaned to MCLD customers by other libraries are checked out for two (2) weeks, and no renewals are permitted.

  6. Even if another library owns the item a customer wants, that does not guarantee that the loaning library will lend the item through ILL.

  7. Inquiries about the status of an ILL request may be submitted via email to ILLRequest@mcldaz.org or by calling 602-652-3000.