Update About Interlibrary Loans

Interlibrary loans may be placed, but will not be processed until further notice. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Frequently Asked Questions

We’ll need specific information to find the material including the author, title, publisher, date of publication, journal or citation for photocopies, and any other important information that will help us locate a copy.
Anyone with a current Palm Beach County Library card can use this free service. Limited to five active requests at a time.
Fill out the Interibrary Loan Request Form available below, or ask a Research Librarian at any branch location.
This is a free service. However, some lending libraries may charge for borrowing or copying materials. We will not be able to obtain materials unless you have agreed to pay the lending fee. The lending charges can be $15 to $25 or more per loan.
Depending on availability, it can take as little as three days to as much as two weeks or longer to obtain materials.
Loan periods vary based on the policies of the lending library.
You can request books, copies of journal, magazine, and newspaper articles, microfilms, archival, fiction, research, and special collection materials. To request a book or monograph, you must provide the title, author, publisher, and any other necessary information to locate the item. To request an article you must provide a complete citation of the article including title, author, volume, page, and issue.
In most cases, you cannot borrow genealogy materials. Sometimes libraries will copy materials if you have a family name or citation for a specific section of a book.
Some lending libraries allow renewals. Ask staff at any branch location several days before the due date so they can send the renewal request to the lending library. Overdue materials are not eligible for renewal Contact your branch a couple days after your request to find out if the renewal was accepted. If the renewal is denied, you will be notified and the materials will be due.
We make every effort to fill your requests. Reasons for unfilled requests are:
  • The author, title, or citation is incorrect or incomplete.
  • No library owns the material.
  • The material is only owned outside the United States.
  • Book is in heavy demand or on best-seller List.
  • Book is non-circulating, and for research only (part of special collection, rare, too fragile to lend, limited edition, etc.)
  • Some libraries do not lend current year materials.
Phonograph records, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, videocassettes, directories, and indexes, textbooks, reference books, and encyclopedias (multi-volume sets), material held outside the United States, and computer disks cannot be requested.
If you have a question about this service, contact the Interlibrary Loan Section at illmail@pbclibrary.org, or contact your local branch library.

Submit a Request

If you are requesting a book, please fill in the fields below:
If you are requesting a journal article, please fill in the fields below

*The Interlibrary Loan service is free. The Library belongs to several resource-sharing networks where we can get most materials at no charge. Some lending libraries may charge for borrowing or copying materials. We will not be able to obtain materials unless you have agreed to pay the lending fee. The lending charges can be $15 to $25 per loan.

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified by the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproductions are not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order, if in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law. If you have any questions about Interlibrary Loan, email illmail@pbclibrary.org, or contact your local branch library.

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