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The U-M Library recently introduced a new interlibrary loan (ILL) service for physical items, UBorrow, which combines 14 research library catalogs containing 90 million items into one easy-to-use search and request tool.
UBorrow loan requests go directly to the ILL department at the loaning institution. Anne Beaubien, director of MLibrary document delivery, says users can expect a fast and predictable turnaround (typically within five business days), and can keep borrowed materials up to 12 weeks.
Beaubien explains that UBorrow offers some advantage over the library’s standard ILL services.
“UBorrow users will know immediately whether an item is available, the loan period for the item, and whether it can be renewed,” she says.
The new service launched in May. Beaubien says the U-M Library has thus far been a net lender, but expects borrowing among the U-M community to increase as library users learn more about the service.
UBorrow is a service of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), which comprises the universities of the Big Ten Conference plus the University of Chicago and the Center for Research Libraries. The CIC received the American Library Association’s 2012 Rethinking Resource Sharing Innovation Award for UBorrow.
