With the Interlibrary Loan feature, patrons can request a resource from another library connected to your library or your library's catalog system. Once enabled, patrons will see the Interlibrary Loan link on the results list, Marked Items list, and on the document display page for those Gale resources that support this feature.
The Interlibrary Loan link can be configured to direct patrons to a URL containing an Interlibrary Loan form, with certain fields pre-populated. Or if your library does not have such a URL, a generic e-mail form can be used. Patrons will have the option to modify the pre-populated fields and then send the form to an address you provide.
Note that if you are currently using an OpenURL server to allow patrons access to a third-party library catalog, you may continue to do so and leave these fields blank, if desired.
- Navigate to the Location Summary page of the account for which you wish to configure interlibrary loan settings.
- From the Location Summary page, click Discovery Services in the left-hand sidebar menu. Then select Interlibrary Loan from the submenu.
- The Interlibrary Loan page is displayed.
- Add or change the settings as described in the table below.
- Click the Save button to save your changes.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Address of the Inter-Library Loan service | Entering a URL (http://...) directs patrons to a form where some or all values will be automatically filled in by the Gale resource and where the patron can modify fields as needed. For example: http://www.sampledigitallibrary.org/ILL/linkinto?illrequest=ISBN&words=[ISBN]&db=pe Please note that any placeholders required by the Interlibrary Loan form, such as the '[ISBN]' in this example, are part of the search URL definition and should be typed exactly as shown into Gale Admin. The actual values will come from the Gale resource and will replace any placeholders at the time of the request. |
| Name for this library catalog to be used as the link title | Enter a description that will appear as the link text whenever the Interlibrary Loan link appears in those Gale resources that support this feature. |
| Custom icon / Current icon | You can optionally specify the URL for a customized icon image representing your Interlibrary Loan catalog. Otherwise leave the field blank to use the standard (default) icon as provided by Gale. For best viewing, your customized icon should be 20 pixels high. The Current Icon will be displayed; if an image does not appear, make sure you entered the correct URL. NOTE: If you specify a customized icon, you should also set the citation style on the General Preferences page to 'Icon.' |
| Display ILL Link when Full Text is available | Use this setting to show or suppress the Interlibrary Loan link when the patron accesses a full text document. Suppressing the link means it will only appear for citation-only and abstract-only documents. |