Conference proceedings are difficult to obtain through Interlibrary Loan for the following reasons:
- Most libraries will not loan electronic conference proceedings because the publishers often do not allow sharing this content per the terms of their licensing agreements. For example, IEEE is a publisher that does not permit libraries to loan the proceedings from their annual conferences and meetings.
- Print conference proceedings often present an issue with copyright. Since a single proceeding typically comprises more than 10 percent of the entire document, they are not able to be shared.
- Proceedings can often take 1-3 years to be published and may only be provided to the conference attendees.
Before submitting an Interlibrary Loan request for a conference proceeding, consider the following:
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Try to locate the conference proceeding freely available online from the websites of professional associations, societies, or organizations. Once on the website, look for information about their publications. These links may be labeled as Publications, Research, Resources, Proceedings, or the like. Keep in mind, however, that there may be a charge for full-text proceedings if you are not a member of that organization. Sometimes organizations offer student membership rates. If you plan to use the proceedings often, it may benefit you to join.
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Compare WorldCat holdings to see if a library near you owns the print conference proceeding. Enter the title of the conference proceeding in the search box. If a record is available, you can enter your zip code or address in the Enter your Location box on the resource summary page. A list of libraries owning the resource will display; however, always confirm availability of the resource by contacting the library directly.
You may submit a request through Interlibrary Loan for a conference proceeding, and if the request is unable to be filled, you will receive a notification with further explanation.
Follow these steps to request a conference proceeding through Interlibrary Loan:
- Access the Interlibrary Loan system and login using your school email address as your username (Example: F.Lastname1234@o365.ncu.edu) and enter your selected password for interlibrary loan. NOTE: If this is your first time accessing the Interlibrary Loan system, please see this Library FAQ on accessing your account as a first-time user.
- Once you are logged in, click Create Request under the Requested tab.
- Under Create Request, select the NU ILL Article form and fill out all required information for the resource, including title, author(s), publication year, and page numbers. Click Submit Request at the end of the form to finalize your request.
- You will receive an email confirmation, as well as an SMS/text notification if enabled, that your interlibrary loan request is being processed. Your item request will display as Submitted on your account dashboard.
For more information about Interlibrary Loan, visit the Interlibrary Loan LibGuide.
