I requested my first interlibrary loan today. I was really surprised to find out that it will cost me $1.50 when (if) the book comes in and that it could take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months to get it. Is this normal? The cost isn't really a big deal (maybe to cover shipping the book? IDK), I just never thought about having to pay to check out a book from the library. I think the time frame is what I was most surprised by. The librarian said it just depends on the other library and how quickly they get the book out. She also said they would let me know if they say they won't send it. I didn't know that was a possibility. So, I'm going to have to pull something together to hold dd13 over until the book comes in...
We don't have to pay...I think that's an individual library thing where they need to make up costs. Like we know of one library that doesn't charge fines; it accepts donations instead. As far as time goes, that is typical. I've had books take up to two months. Keep in mind that if that book had just been checked out at the home district, you very likely will have a month wait before it comes available. Also, for us, it cannot be renewed, and it costs $2.50 a day if late. Just out of curiousity, what book are you looking for?
The book isBefore Columbus-the Americas of 1491 by Charles Mann. I found it on Amazon for about $15, so I may just go ahead and buy it so we can get it here faster...
I just found the next book I was going to need at my library, so I'll just switch them out until the other one comes in.
When we lived in Tulsa, it was not a charge for interlibrary loan. Now that I have moved back to my home town, the charge is mindblowing. I could probably find the book online used for less. Anyway, we find a way to meet our resource needs.
Our library started charging $1 per book about a year ago. Probably because of me and my kids...we always has out the max # of ILL (3). Small town library didn't have much of anything and alot of their good stuff (esp. about homeschooling) they keep in "Reference" which mean it can never be checked out. Like who wants to sit in the library a read a homeschool devotional book in one sitting? It's worth the $1 if you can't find it cheap and want to know if it's worthwhile to purchase, but my kids have stopped requesting stuff which kind of makes me sad b/c now they never want to go to the library anymore. My oldest DD downloads alot of public domain books onto her iPod so I guess that's good.
These posts make me thankful for Georgia's PINE system. There are over 100 libraries participating. There is no cost, I can renew the books, and my local library fine is still .10 a day. The books are moved by carrier, not mail, which is why it sometimes takes a book "in transit" a month to arrive, depending on how far and how many carriers it moved through (the carrier delivers books once a week, one week on Tuesday, next week on Thursday). I can search all the pines libraries by internet and request and renew them the same way. Each of the school age kids and I have cards and we can each check out 50 books a piece (not that we would 200 library books to keep up with makes me want to cry!). The only downside is audiobooks and videos can't be borrowed through intralibrary loan. But I can "check out" audiobooks with my library card on a portal, but we don't have mp3 players, so it doesn't work well for us. Jennifer
