What is Interlibrary Loan?

Interlibrary loan allows you to obtain articles, books, and other resources available at other libraries in Education City, other Northwestern University campus libraries, and other libraries around the world. 


Request Interlibrary Loan

  1. Log into your Interlibrary Loan account with your Northwestern NETID and password.
  2. On the left-hand menu, under Place a New Request, select either a) Article, Chapter, etc. or b) Book, microfilm, video, etc.
  3. Fill in the required fields with your request and Submit.

Receipt and Loan Period

If you need an article, you should receive it within two to three working days. If it is a book and it is available at the home campus, you should have it in about a week. Books borrowed from libraries outside of the Northwestern University Library system may take longer.

Loan periods are generally generous and range from 10 weeks to one year.


Education City Libraries

If the NU-Q library doesn't have what you want, it might be at another Education City library. Contact the library with the details of the book you'd like and we will place an interlibrary loan request for you. If the item is available, your request should be filled within two to three business days.

Loan periods are typically two weeks. DVDs cannot be borrowed from other EC libraries.  The exact loan policy for any given item borrowed from other EC libraries is determined by the lending institution.

View library catalogs: