Tip #11: Learn to Interlibrary Loan Early

Here's another one of those 'learned this the hard way' tip: learn how to interlibrary loan (I.L.L) early - both early in the sense of learn how in your first year and also early as in weeks before you need the books.

We all know Nipissing has a crummy library. We also know that ordering books from another library takes time and is annoying since you can't renew them. But, alas, we must make do with the situation we're in.

So my suggestion is to learn to I.L.L. right away. It's so easy to set up an account with "RACER" the program that does I.L.L.s You can go to the library webpage for a step-by-step guide, or ask a librarian for a hand-out, OR the librarian will actually help you do it your first time (as was my case). Once you have an account and know how, you can order books from all sorts of libraries online from your home, and the library will email you when it comes in.

Since I've found that one of the best ways to find good solid sources for papers is through bibliographies of articles and books, I use the I.L.L system a lot. Nipissing usually doesn't have the specific books that I'm looking for. You may also not know that this service is free and also works for specific articles.

But something to keep in mind is that it will take a week or so for your book to come in. I also learned last week that they can be recalled by the lending library at any time. So my experience has been to order as early as possible (once I know my topic) and to write thorough notes, so you don't get into the experience of needing an I.L.L book a week before the paper is due.