Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a service through which biomedical books or journal articles not owned by the School of Medicine Library may be obtained from other libraries or commercial document suppliers. We can usually obtain journal articles within one to three business days. Other materials such as books generally take longer to allow for mail time.

Before requesting items, please check our Library Catalog and our Journals page to see if the Library already owns the materials you need. If you need assistance, please contact the Reference Desk at 803-216-3213 or submit your questions using our Ask A Librarian form.

The ILL Express! System is used to place all ILL requests.

ILL Express! Is the system for placing and tracking Interlibrary Loan (ILL) requests at the USC School of Medicine Library. This service is available to School of Medicine faculty, students, and staff. Non-USC healthcare practitioners, individuals and organizations in South Carolina may also use this service.

Table of Contents

1. First Time Users
2. Requesting a Book (Loan)
3. Requesting an Article
4. Electronic Delivery

Affiliated users will be prompted to fill out a registration form the first time they click the Logon to ILL Express! link. 

Community Borrowers must follow the registration steps outlined here.

Please enter as much information on the registration form as possible. Please be sure to fill out the required fields (these are noted in red)

Please check the Library Catalog to be certain that the material you need is not already held by the School of Medicine Library.

• Logon to ILL Express! using your username and password. The Main Menu for ILL Express! will open.
• Press the "Book" link under "New Request" to open a request form.
• Enter as much information about the item you are requesting as possible. Title is a required field. The more information given, especially the ISSN/ISBN number, the faster the searching process will be for the Interlibrary Loan staff, therefore speeding the arrival of your request.
• If you have additional information, enter it in the notes field.
• After entering all the information, press the button "Submit Request". If you have made a mistake, simply edit the field in question. If you have already submitted the request see Editing a Request, later on this page.
• The Main Menu will then reappear.
• When you are finished using ILL Express! please exit by pressing the "Logoff" link at the top of the Main Menu.
• If you are using a public access workstation, you should clear your Web browser's history file and exit from the browser.

Please remember to submit a separate request for each item. 

Please check the Library Catalog to be certain that the material you need is not already held by the School of Medicine Library.

• Logon to ILL Express! using your username and password. The Main Menu for ILL Express! will open.
• Use the "Article" link under “New Request” on the Main Menu  to open a request form.
• Enter as much information about the item you are requesting as possible. The more information given, especially the PubMed ID, the faster the search process will be for the Interlibrary Loan staff, therefore speeding the arrival of your request.
• If you have additional information, enter it in the Notes field.
• After entering all the information, press the "Submit Request" button.
• The Main Menu will then reappear.
• When you are finished using ILL Express! please exit by using the "Logoff" link at the top of  the Main Menu.
• If you are using a public access workstation, you should clear your Web browser's history file and exit from the browser.

Please remember to submit a separate request for each item.

We can electronically deliver articles that are sent to us in an electronic format. We post these articles in PDF format on your ILL Express! account. From there you can access these articles for 30 days. 

How to sign up for electronic delivery:

• Logon to ILL Express! using your username and password.
• From the Main Menu, press the "Change User Information" button toward the bottom of the page.
• Select "Yes" next to "Prefer Electronic Delivery if Possible?” (PDF file via web or email).
• When you are finished using ILL Express!, please exit by using the “Logoff” link at the top of the Main Menu.
• If you are using a public access workstation, you should clear your Web browser's history file and exit from the browser.

How to view/print electronically delivered articles:

• Logon to ILL Express! using your username and password.
• Select the "Electronically Received Articles" link under “View” on the Main Menu. This will display all the requests that you have available via electronic delivery.
• You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view your articles; to download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free, visit the Adobe Download Page. Select the request you wish to view/print by pressing the appropriate transaction number button at the left of the page. Adobe Acrobat will open automatically and display the selected article.
• Within Adobe Acrobat Reader, you may read, print, or save the article.
• After you have read or printed the article, click on the Delete button. This will remove the article from your outstanding requests list, but the article will remain available on the ILL Express! server for 30 days. Call the ILL Department if you would like to reinstate the article after deleting it.
• When you are finished using ILL Express!, please exit by pressing the "Logoff" link at the top of the Main Menu.
• If you are using a public access workstation, you should clear your Web browser's history file and exit from the browser.

If you need additional help or have questions about the Interlibrary Loan Service, please contact the Interlibrary Loan Department at 803.216.3212 or ill@uscmed.sc.edu.