On the other hand, if you wait until you request has reached a status of 'Request Sent', you can no longer cancel it yourself as ILL staff have already processed it to where this is not possible. In this case you will need to contact us at (216) 368-3517 or (216) 368-3463, or at smithill@case.edu. We can usually make arrangements to discontinue processing a request at an advanced stage, unless a lender has already sent out the material. In such a case (especially where a loaned book is concerned) we ordinarily will leave the request live and make you aware of the situation. Once such material arrives, we will notify you to pick it up (or download in the case of an electronically delivered article), just in case you decide you still may have a use for it after all--and of course you have the option to tell us just to return it at that point. In cases where we actually can terminate a processed request, we will send you the routine e-mail cancellation notification, confirming the reason being that you specifically asked to have it cancelled.

Do NOT try to notify us to cancel a previous ILLiad request (or of any other ILL issue or concern) by submitting a new request with a message in the 'Notes' field. Use the ILLiad request forms ONLY for their intended purpose of borrowing materials through interlibrary loan. When you cannot cancel a transaction yourself, ALWAYS contact us by phone or e-mail. Please note that an e-mail link is available in the ILLiad Main Menu when you are logged in, conveniently located in the 'Help' section as 'Contact ILL'. For further details about cancelling ILLiad requests, please check the Customer Help page in the Cancelling a Request section.

Keep in mind that you also have the option of re-submitting any of your previously cancelled ILLiad requests. You can view any of your old cancelled transactions by selecting 'Cancelled Requests' from the 'View' section of your Main Menu, and clicking on the corresponding transaction number link. Click the 'Resubmit Request' option at the top of the window, and you may then edit and submit the request once again. You can also choose simply to submit an entirely new interlibrary loan request for the original materials, if you prefer. For further details, check the View Cancelled Requests and Re-submit a Request sections of our ILLiad Customer Help page.

We greatly appreciate your co-operation in making your use of interlibrary loan services more efficient, and thereby assisting ILL staff in our efforts to better serve your research needs.

First of all, if you need to access any titles that have been done at any of the colleges of Case Western Reserve University (or any of its predecessor institutions), you should ordinarily not have to request them through interlibrary loan. Be sure you have searched them in the CASE Online Catalog for current availability. The most recent 5 years of masters' theses (and the newest Ph.D. dissertations) from the College of Arts and Sciences, Case School of Engineering, and the Weatherhead School of Management should be available in the Kelvin Smith Library. Any titles done at the School of Medicine, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, or the School of Law should be held at their respective library locations. All others should be available for request by using the Iron Mountain form.

Theses originally submitted in electronic format will often have a link displayed in their online catalog entries, for immediate download. You may also search the availability of many electronic CASE thesis titles that have been digitized at either Digital Case Electronic Theses or OhioLINK Electronic Theses.

If you cannot find a CASE thesis title in our catalog, or if one that you do find is not currently available (e.g., checked out, in processing, or at bindery), we suggest you contact the University Archives for further assistance. The phone number for their reference desk is 216-368-3320, and they may also be contacted at Archives@case.edu.

If you need to borrow a thesis or dissertation that was done at any of the OhioLINK Member Universities, you should first search for it in the OhioLINK Catalog, where you can submit your request directly. Digitized OhioLINK theses are also available for download through the OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center.

In all other cases, you should use ILLiad to request the thesis titles you require. Remember to use the 'Thesis' form under the 'New Request' section of the Main Menu, when you log into your account. The data fields provided in this page are appropriate to this particular loan type. You should use this form for titles done at Ohio universities not part of OhioLINK, U.S. universities outside Ohio, and any universities outside the United States.

Keep in mind that the loans of theses or dissertations borrowed through ILLiad will be subject to different loan rules than any that you borrow directly from the CASE or OhioLINK collections. As each lending institution operates along its own set of policies, it is possible that various restrictions may be imposed. For example, loan periods may vary (in contrast to the uniform due dates of direct check-outs), renewals may or may not be allowed, and in some cases a 'library-use-only' restriction may be required. When you receive a notification of receipt, the message text will indicate if any of these apply.

Some additional issues and caveats to remember about borrowing theses through ILLiad...

Most often a thesis or dissertation is held only at the library of the institution where it was done. Sometimes there are copies available held at more than one library location, with the possibility of two or more libraries at the same university. Occasionally some theses are widely held through several locations besides the originating institution, as a reflection of how influential the author's research has proven to be. Usually, however, you can expect only a single copy to be all that will be available for borrowing through interlibrary loan.

Occasionally a thesis is on loan at the institution's library at the time you place a request for it, and they will often reply by informing us to try again at a future date. Under these circumstances, we will send you a cancellation notice and suggest that you re-submit your request at a time when it may again be available for loan.

If you have already requested a particular thesis title that we have been able to borrow for you and have recently returned it, you should expect not to be able to borrow it again immediately. Please put off re-requesting it for at least two to three weeks (or longer if a foreign thesis) if you need it again, to allow for return shipping, check-in and re-shelving for future availability at the lender library.

Some theses will only be available for circulation in microfilm (reel or fiche) formats from the lender libraries. We usually try to request hard copies of theses when we can, but sometimes only microfilms are loaned to us by the lender libraries even when we do not expect them. Many Canadian theses, for example, can only be borrowed from the National Library of Canada, which loans them almost exclusively in microfiche format. Please remember that the Kelvin Smith Library does offer the appropriate equipment and reference assistance for viewing microfilm format, as well as for reproducing into the print or electronic forms which you may find more useful. Consider this before returning any unused theses borrowed for you on microfilm through ILL.

Some lenders will actually provide us with a complete reproduction of a thesis or dissertation. When this is in electronic format, we usually can provide it to you through electronic delivery (after converting your ILLiad transaction into an article-type request format). Due to copyright restrictions, you will be expected to save or print only a single copy of the thesis, which you may retain for personal research use but not freely disseminate. Keep in mind that it will usually be a fairly large file, so please allow adequate time for it to download. When we actually receive a print reproduction, we will provide it to you as a loan, with indefinite renewals if needed. As this material is library property, we will expect you to return it when you are finished so we may submit it to our Acquisitions Department to be considered for binding and addition to the Kelvin Smith Library collections, for future availability.

Expect that some theses will take us longer to obtain than the usual loans you may request. Those done at Canadian, British, European, Japanese and other foreign universities will often require more time for us to borrow, and in some cases we will only be able to obtain them by purchasing a reproduction directly from the holding library, which often becomes a time-consuming process (more about that below). You can also expect many European and other non-English universities' theses to be available only in the original language, and not in English translation. Some of these may be referenced (i.e., title & abstract only) in translation, but not be available in full-text translation. Occasionally, though, some actually are written originally in English by their authors.

Once in a while, a holding library will not allow a thesis title to circulate at all. We can sometimes purchase a reproduction from them, but unfortunately this is not always the case. Some libraries will require us to obtain permission directly from the author before proceeding with processing a reproduction. Some lenders will instead refer us to University Microfilms International to purchase a copy ourselves, while others will simply not offer any option at all. In many such cases, we will have to cancel your ILLiad request and inform you of the specific circumstances. When a title is available from University Microfilms International, we will also suggest that you may wish to purchase a personal copy, or advise you to contact our Acquisitions Department using the Suggest a Purchase form to have a copy added to our own collections.

Hopefully this has shed some light regarding theses and dissertations, and how best to use interlibrary loan services and other available resources in accessing them.

We always strive to provide you with good-quality, clear, legible reproductions of articles, book chapters, conference papers, etc., for use in your scholarly research. Most of the time we obtain high-quality reproductions from our suppliers, but we admit there can often be variation in the quality of the scans received. A little explanation of this may be in order.

All articles are delivered to you through your ILLiad patron account, downloadable when you log in, rather than as attachments to e-mail notifications. As electronic delivery is already a built-in feature of the ILLiad package, and for the sake of procedural uniformity, we use this method exclusively as it is a more manageable and streamlined process than the alternative. Ideally, an article is presented with one single page of text (or plates, if any) per frame, and these all should appear right-side-up, with numbered pages in ascending order. Usually a paging slip, cover sheet or request form (possibly with a copyright declaration) is included at the very beginning, prior to the text pages.

One of the most efficient and direct methods of transmitting articles electronically from one library to another--and the one which we use most frequently whenever possible--is through a system integrated within ILLiad known as 'Odyssey'. We consciously select potential suppliers that we know to use this system before any others, provided they have the required resources among their holdings. Occasionally, some lender libraries will instead send us articles as PDF or TIF documents via e-mail, as attachments or postings. Due to contractual agreements regarding confidentiality and fair use, and for the sake of uniform implementation of ILLiad functions, we cannot simply forward these communications on to our patrons. Finally, other lenders still send us paper copies through regular mail or courier, or by fax.

When we receive an article through Odyssey, we ordinarily have an opportunity to view and make modifications to the scanned pages. We frequently will upright any upside-down pages, crop out any unwanted black or white space in the margins, and re-order incorrectly ordered pages, when this is practical. Many suppliers already take care to have done this for us ahead of time. If a particular lender that uses Odyssey on a regular basis has proven to our satisfaction that they can provide quality scans, we will designate them with a 'Trusted Sender' status. Once this is set, all subsequent electronic deliveries from such a provider will be sent through directly from the lender library to you, unmediated by ILL staff at Kelvin Smith Library. This means that you may receive an article being supplied by one of these lenders at any time, night or day, or even on weekends. As this process will then be on a 'good-faith' basis, it also can allow for the possibility of an occasional scan of lesser quality.

When we receive a TIF via e-mail, we can import it into ILLiad's scanning function, and have the opportunity to modify the file (i.e., cropping, rotating, correcting page order, etc., when practical) before we send it on to you. When a PDF is supplied to us by the lender, we are more likely to leave it in its unmodified original form before providing it to you, since the regular use of Adobe Acrobat can be a little too cumbersome and time-consuming to be feasible, especially when larger files are involved. Since it is essentially 'ready-made', we can copy it directly into our online FTP folder and then send off the corresponding delivery notification to its recipient. When we are provided with a paper copy, we simply run it through an ADF scanner (with pages already properly oriented and in correct order) and import the images into ILLiad. Again, in this case we have the opportunity to perform some cropping when practical, before sending it on for delivery.

Variation in quality often is related to the original source of the article. For example, some lenders will supply an article, usually in PDF format, directly from their own electronic journal edition (when copyright or publisher contract allows), and you would ordinarily expect a high-quality reproduction (sometimes even with color print or images). This will usually not have a cover sheet, but almost always includes a copyright declaration. At the other end of the spectrum, articles reproduced from microfilm, microfiche or microopaque sources are often of inferior quality. Further scanning at errantly selected, inadequate resolution levels can diminish this even further. Unfortunately, some materials (such as old newspapers) are only available in these formats, as original print versions may not have been well-preserved over the years. Older, yellowed or darkened paper sources are also difficult to reproduce with acceptable degrees of clarity or contrast between background and print, and you may occasionally see a notation such as 'BEST COPY AVAILABLE' indicated by the supplier.

Original page size of print editions can also be a factor in appearance. Although most books and journals approximate the standard 8-1/2" x 11" dimensions, many are much larger or considerably smaller. Some lenders may choose to scan the pages to scale, and this would be carried over into the electronic file copy. (This usually will not affect your ability to print the file, as page size is ordinarily re-adjusted to fit into the available paper size, according to printer preference settings.) Others may choose to reduce or enlarge to fit the standard page size, although this is more common when photocopied paper copies are provided. Suppliers outside the U.S. routinely apply metric dimensions (i.e., 'A4', 'B4') when reproducing articles, which would normally be re-sized to fit standard letter-size proportions. Extreme reduction can lead to text that cannot be easily readable (even with magnification), while excessive enlargement can produce text that appears faded.

Another factor that affects quality is the type of equipment used, and how it is put to use by its operator. Overhead scanners are designed not to place pressure on opened volumes, and thus lessen the chance of damage to spines and brittle pages. However, this can ofter result in the appearance of fingers in margins and large dark areas in-between facing pages, both of which may obscure some of the text. On the other hand, there are some high-end flatbed scanners that, when properly programmed and operated, can split paired pages (thus avoiding alternate inverted exposures), crop margins uniformly, and delete unwanted pages, and are ideal for automated high-volume use. Of course, many lenders still rely on the good old-fashioned photocopy machine, which can result in a great deal of variation, such as the aforementioned fingers in the margin, dark gutters, black and white space, and alternating inversions, as well as the paper-conserving practice of reduction to fit two pages into a single exposure. Of course, additional human error can lead to missing or incomplete pages, incorrectly ordered pages, skewed text, and improperly selected density or resolution.

We do try our best to compensate for such anomalies, whenever this is possible. For example, in cases where we are able to intercept the delivery of an article to a patron, we can catch any egregious errors, such as missing, truncated, illegible or excessively skewed pages. In such cases, we would be likely to contact the lender library to request a corrected re-send of the article before making any attempt at delivering it electronically. We also realize that with the quicker turnaround time and less need for staff involvement as a result of implementing ILLiad's 'Trusted Sender' feature comes the caveat of the occasional less-than-perfect article. In the long run, we believe that the benefits of this application more often outweigh the risks.

Keep in mind that if you are ever dissatisfied with the quality of an electronically delivered document through Kelvin Smith Library's ILLiad services, you may feel free to contact our department by phone at 216-368-3517 or 216-368-3463 or by e-mail at smithill@case.edu, to request a replacement.

Additional information about electronic delivery with ILLiad is available in the following Customer Help pages:
View Electronically Received Articles & Electronic Delivery Information

If you are a faculty or staff member, or a student, at the College of Arts and Sciences, the Case School of Engineering, or the Weatherhead School of Management, or a staff member in any of the university central administrative offices, or have enrolled in the Kelvin Smith Library Alumni Membership Program at the Alumni Choice Membership Service level, please sign up using the KELVIN SMITH LIBRARY ILLiad website.

If you are a faculty or staff member, or a student, in the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, set up your account in the MSASS Harris Library ILLiad website. If you are a faculty or staff member, or a student, at the School of Law, use the LAW Library web page, and select the 'Interlibrary Loan Services' link to reach their ILLiad site--entry here requires a special intranet username and password, so you may need to contact them at (216) 368-2792 for further assistance.

Faculty and staff members, and students, at the School of Medicine, the School of Dental Medicine, or the School of Nursing should set up for interlibrary loan services through the CLEVELAND HEALTH SCIENCES LIBRARY ILLiad site. If you are enrolled in or affiliated with any health sciences-related interdisciplinary programs, such as Biochemistry, Environmental Health Sciences, Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Molecular Biology & Microbiology, Neurosciences, Nutrition, and Physiology & Biophysics, you should also use this site to set up your account.

Finally, if you are connected with any of our affiliated institutions, please get in touch with their respective libraries directly for service, at the contacts below:
*Cleveland Institute of Music Library: (216) 707-4508 (link to their ILL services page provided here)
*Cleveland Institute of Art Library: (216) 421-7440
*Siegal College of Judaic Studies Library: (216) 464-4050 or info@siegalcollege.edu

Please be mindful that all the libraries mentioned above are more selectively specialized for the particular subject areas of the department or program with which you may be associated. (Of course, the Kelvin Smith Library, our main system, embraces greater breadth in this respect.) Their staff and collection resources will be better suited to assist you with research in your own specific discipline, especially by providing the reference services that guide in making your interlibrary loan usage more effective.

If you are not directly associated with Case Western Reserve University or any of its affiliates as indicated above (or are alumni not enrolled in the Choice Membership), we recommend that you instead consult your local public library branch, the academic library of your own college or university, or your employer's corporate or medical library, for help with interlibrary loan services.

You will see the table containing your request information, then a table with any 'Notes' you have originally submitted (and any others added subsequently by ILL staff regarding special pertinent processing information). At the bottom of the page there will be another table labeled 'Tracking'. It will list all the various statuses the transaction has passed through, in chronological order with the current or final status appearing in the very last line. The date and time will be indicated to the left of the status listing, and the Username of the particular user (i.e., either yours or an ILL staff member's) who has made the corresponding update will appear to its right. ('System' implies that the ILLiad operating system has made the update automatically according to a specified routing rule.)

You may check the Customer Help page in the Explanation of Request Statuses section, for further clarification on what each status specifically implies. Please note that the status of 'Request Sent' requires additional explanation, since the technical details of the request's progress at this point are accessible only to ILL staff. We hope this feature of the ILLiad system is helpful to you, especially when ILL staff are not available in person during regular service hours. Of course, if you need additional assistance, please contact us at (216) 368-3517 or (216) 368-3463, Monday-Friday 9:00AM-4:30PM, or at smithill@case.edu.

Whenever you log into your ILLiad account, you can click on the 'Notifications' link under the 'View' section of your Main Menu. You will see a table listing up to 20 of the most recent messages sent to you by e-mail from ILLiad, each indicated by subject links. If you click on one of these, the complete text of the message will be displayed. You may also view all your messages as an RSS feed, simply by clicking on 'Subscribe to Notifications Feed' at the top of the table -- remember to use the 'Back' button of your browser to return to your login session, in this case.

Keep in mind that if you find yourself receiving numerous e-mail notifications from ILLiad, particularly repeated overdue notices, these can quickly deplete your total available number of viewable messages. Please also be aware that included among your notifications you may occasionally find messages we have forwarded to other KSL staff for reference assistance, or inquiries placed to potential lender libraries pertaining to your request -- we make these also available to you for viewing as a courtesy, for your interest.

More details on this helpful function are available at our Customer Help page, in the View Notifications section. If you determine that you absolutely must view an old notification that is no longer accessible from an ILLiad login session, please contact the ILL staff at (216) 368-3517 or (216) 368-3463, or at: smithill@case.edu, so that we may retrieve the text and e-mail it back to you. Please note that this will not be possible if the transaction no longer exists in you request history (i.e., as a result of having been purged as a part of regular system maintenance).

Whenever you wish to view the articles that have been provided to you through ILLiad, you first need to log into your account at the ILLiad Logon Page, then from your Main Menu select 'Electronically Received Articles' under the 'View' section. A table will be displayed with the column headings: 'Transaction', 'View', 'Size', 'Title', 'Author', 'Expires', and 'Delete'. (Please note that if nothing appears below these headings, you do not currently have any articles available for viewing.)

The numbers under 'Transaction' are actual links to the request information tables for that particular cited article, including any 'Notes' and tracking information. You can click on the number and then either view or delete the PDF containing your article from this screen. Under 'View' (back at the table display), you can click on the PDF icon next to the corresponding transaction number, and you will be taken directly to the display of your article file. In either case you may print or save a copy of your article -- remember to use the 'Back' button of your browser to return to the previous screen.

Next you will see the 'Size' of your file indicated. This is relevant as it can affect the time it may require to download your article. As a rule of thumb, anything in excess of 10 MB may take longer than 60 seconds to open. The table also displays the 'Title' of your article, that is, the journal (or book) title followed by the actual article (or chapter) title. The 'Author' of the article appears under the next column.

The expiration date , which is 30 days from the date your electronic article was originally posted (at which time you were sent an e-mail notification), is shown in the next column (under 'Expires'). After this date, your article transaction will be automatically removed from the table and the file will no longer be accessible. Under 'Delete' you may choose to delete an article file from your ILLiad account for the transaction indicated at the beginning of the corresponding row. Of course, you will want to be sure to have viewed, printed, or saved your article first, before it expires or you delete it.

If you accidentally delete an article before you have finished using it, you still have an opportunity to 'undelete' it if you do so before the next electronic cleanup session in our server's PDF folder -- usually within 24 hours. Once you delete an article, and decide you need to undelete it, click on the word 'undelete' in the text above the revised table. A new table appears where you can 'Undelete' the previously deleted article, and the transaction will be restored to your 'Electronically Received Articles' table. More details on this feature can be found at Undeleting a PDF. Just remember not to wait too long before you decide to undelete an article. If your article does not appear in the table any longer, you may need to request it all over again. For further assistance, contact ILL staff at (216) 368-3517 or (216) 368-3463, or at smithill@case.edu.

More detailed information can be found in our Customer Help page, at the View Electronically Received Articles section. Policy information about ILLiad electronic delivery is also available at the Electronic Delivery Information page. We strongly encourage you to take advantage of this valuable function of the ILLiad system, for efficient and convenient access to the articles you need.

Please use this form to submit requests for special LOANS only, such as audio/visual items (videos, CD's, etc.), serial microfilm reels (journals, newspapers), entire journal volumes or issues in print, maps, and any other rare or archival items. Do NOT use this form for loans of ordinary books (including music scores and complete conference proceedings), theses/dissertations or reports/government documents, or for reproductions of journal or newspaper articles, book chapters, conference papers or patents -- use the appropriate request forms that already exist for these types instead, and add your comments to the 'Notes' field if necessary.

The unique feature of this form is the 'Citation' field, which can accommodate up to 1500 characters, where you can enter free text describing the material you require. Please keep in mind that you should still only cite one individual item per transaction (unless it is a multi-part set, all bearing the same title). You may need to submit separate requests when you require more than one distinct piece, even if these happen to be in a closely related subject area.

In the 'Item Producer' field, you may indicate the individual or organization that created or sponsored the material, if this is known. Also, if you already have searched this item in WorldCat, you can enter the OCLC Number as this will vastly minimize processing time. Finally, you can enter any additional information that may be helpful to us in tracking down this material, in the 'Notes' and 'source-of-citation' fields at the bottom of the form.

Remember that when you request any special material types, such as those suggested above, the libraries that offer to lend them may choose to impose restrictions, such as 'No Renewals', 'No Photocopying' or 'Library Use Only', and expect that we will observe these as a condition of the agreement to loan. In some cases of rare or fragile documents, the lenders may instead decide to provide them as a reproduction, and in those instances ILL staff will convert such a request to an article format and supply the material to you by electronic delivery.

Please bear in mind that when you use the 'Other' request form, it almost invariably will require extended processing time from ILL staff, as searching for special materials is more involved than for most ordinary items. Also, remember that even when rare or esoteric materials have been catalogued in OCLC, or are cited in other databases, there is no guarantee that they are necessarily obtainable through interlibrary loan. We will, in any case, make our best effort in trying to supply you with those hard-to-find items you need for your research.

For example, the collections of the Library of Congress are entirely for in-house use when visitors request items from them on-site. Likewise, when they agree to loan any of their materials out on interlibrary loan they expect the same treatment of these items while used at borrower locations. The Archives of American Art and the National Diet Library of Japan also specify this same requirement for any and all loans. Other lenders may require this only for certain items or specific material types, most often when items are in poor condition but can still be handled carefully.

In order for us to respect the lenders' conditions, we ask patrons for whom any such items have been borrowed not to use them outside of the Kelvin Smith Library. When you receive an e-mail notification that materials have arrived for pick-up, you will see a line in the text 'Must this item remain in the library building? Yes', indicating a library-use item. When you come to the library to use the material for the first time, we still expect you to sign and date the checkout slip that accompanies it (and show a valid ID card) as with all other ILLiad loans, even though your are not actually taking it outside the library. This is so that we can update the status of the request transaction properly in our ILL database.

We also provide a usage signout sheet accompanying the item(s), in the manner of reserve checkout, on which you may indicate your in-library usage record -- specifying the date and time when taken from the circulation desk and when returned. There is room for up to six uses on the slip, but you may note down more times on the blank side as needed -- this is not an attempt to limit your usage, just a matter of space constraints.

Whenever you sign out the item for use within the library, mark the 'Out' lines and return the slip to a staff member at the main desk; it will be held there until you complete your usage period. When you are finished, turn in the item to the desk and fill in the 'In' lines on the slip, and let staff know if you still require it in the future. You may repeat this as many times as you need until the material reaches its due date. Once you are completely finished using it, check off the 'RETURNED' box, and let the desk staff know that it may be sent back. Otherwise, it will be returned to the hold shelf, accompanied by the library-use slip, until you need it again or until it reaches the due date.

Please note that if you leave Library-Use-Only items at the desk, they are still checked out to you through ILLiad, and you may begin receiving e-mail notices once they need to be returned. In some cases, you may have the option to request a renewal -- see my 'Requesting Renewals in ILLiad' entry from September 2008 for more on this. If you receive such a notice, and have determined you no longer need the material, please reply to the e-mail, indicating this is the case; ILL staff will then pull the loaned material from the hold shelf and send it back to the lender library.

By observing lenders' policies, we maintain favorable relations, and can expect agreeable service from them in future instances. If we show evidence of not respecting their restrictions, we risk damaging our relations with them as well as forfeiting their future consideration. We appreciate your co-operation in the appropriate handling and usage of the materials we obtain on your behalf, as it may effectively impact upon the quality of service we can subsequently provide.

Please note that this designation does not automatically carry over to other applications or uses of your ILLiad account and your interlibrary loan privileges. You may choose to make private arrangements at your own discretion with your 'Authorized Users', allowing them log-in use of your account in your stead. Remember that you are still directly responsible for the timely return of loans, compensation for loss or damage of loaned materials, adherence to copyright guidelines and restrictions (when requesting articles), receipt of e-mail notifications, and management of your personal contact and university status information.

By including this option in our library's ILLiad services, we hope to extend the added convenience that it offers you.

The 'Source of Citation' fields, though not required, are also very useful in helping us search for the material you need. These are where you can indicate where you learned about the item you are requesting, and should not be used to duplicate the information you enter into the 'Notes' field. You should provide the title of the article, research paper, book, etc., or the research database entry, that refers to the material you are requesting. (Please do not use these fields simply to re-enter the same information for what you are actually requesting.) It is especially helpful if the source of citation you indicate is something library staff will have fairly easy access to (i.e., print or electonic journals, abstract/index databases already in our own holdings). If you refer to a rare or esoteric source, we may have to ask you to provide an actual copy of it to us, should we experience excess difficulty in verifying your citation.

Remember that the more information you can provide when citing the items you need for your research, the better we can avoid processing delays in providing your interlibrary loan materials.

An invaluable resource that can help to provide full journal titles, standard abbreviations and/or ISSN's is available at Abbreviations.com. It is organized by subject area, and offers links to various serial title database sites. Of course we always recommend that you check the Research Databases offered in our own library page, or consult our reference libarians at (216) 368-6596 or at ulrefer@case.edu.

Keep in mind that the more precise you can be in citing the materials you need for your research, the less likely processing delays may occur and the sooner your articles will be provided to you through our interlibrary loan services.

In order to view your current ILLiad loan transactions, you must log into your account at ILLiad. A list of your outstanding requests will appear on your Main Page, which will include those for any loans (and articles) still in process by ILL Staff, as well as any loans still awaiting pick-up. You may refresh this page by clicking on 'Your Name's ILLiad Page' at the top of the menu at the left, or you may check outstanding requests by clicking on 'Outstanding Requests' under the 'View' section. If you require further details regarding the current status of any outstanding requests still 'In Process', you will need to contact ILL Staff at 216-368-3517 or 216-368-3463 (M-F, 9AM-4:30PM), or at smithill@case.edu. For currently checked out loans, click on 'Checked Out Items' under the 'View' section also -- this is where you may request renewals, where eligible (see my previous entry on 'Requesting Renewals in ILLiad', or read about Renewals in our 'Customer Help' page).

To view any current loans from KSL collections, from any other CASE campus or CASE-affiliated libraries, or through OhioLINK, see the CASE Library Catalog and select 'My Library Account'. Here you will be able to renew these items, if they are eligible. For information regarding loans from the Cleveland Public Library, read further at CPL@Case-KSL.

Please note that any fines or replacement fees for KSL or OhioLINK books must be negotiated through our Circulation Department, which you may contact at 216-368-3506 or at smithcirc@case.edu. We recommend that you contact other CASE library locations (Cleveland Health Sciences, MSASS, LAW, Siegal, etc.) directly regarding fines on items from their collections.

We do not pass on overdue fines to patrons for books borrowed through ILLiad, as a matter of policy, but we do ask that you try to return these items as soon as possible. In the unfortunate instance of the loss of materials loaned through ILLiad, notify ILL Staff immediately, at 216-368-3517 or 216-368-3463, or at smithill@case.edu -- ILL staff will then need to contact the lending institution(s) on policies regarding replacement fees, and you will most likely be held accountable for compensation of any such losses. Your borrowing privileges may also become curtailed as a result, until any billings have been reconciled.

Sorry to end on such a depressing note... Hope this will clear up any confusion about the differences among the various sources of loans which you may obtain through our library services.

The worst-case scenario might be receiving a message with the subject heading 'Overdue ILL Item - Blocked on ILLiad'. At this point, you are still able to log into your ILLiad account, but when you attempt to submit a new interlibrary loan request, you will receive the following message at the top of your page: 'You have been blocked and may not submit new requests...' This indicates that your KSL ILLiad account has lapsed to a 'blocked' status and your ILL privileges are now limited, as a result of having one or more current loan transactions at least 14 days overdue. To find out more details about what this implies, check the excerpt in our 'Customer Help' page regarding your Blocked ILLiad Account.

In order to remedy this situation, we would ask that you return any overdue ILLiad loans this far in arrears (or longer) directly to the Kelvin Smith Library Main Service Desk -- as soon as possible. (Returning items in the outdoor book drop or to other Case campus library locations will only slow the process.) Circulation staff can set your loan transaction(s) to a 'transit' status promptly, and this will prevent you from receiving further e-mail notifications on the loan(s) in question. ILL staff will clear the transaction(s) shortly thereafter, and once your account is free of any such excessively overdue items, you should receive a courtesy notice confirming that your ILLiad account has become unblocked, restoring you to full ILL privileges.

We appreciate your cooperation in getting all your ILLiad loans returned on time. This helps to keep our library in good standing with all the generous lenders with whom we do business, and in turn allows us to better serve our own customers.

For the availability of any books, journals or serials, in either print or electronic format, first check in the CASE Online Catalog, where you may search the holdings of Kelvin Smith Library and other Case campus library locations (i.e, Music, Astronomy, R.R.C.C., Iron Mountain, Allen, Health Center, MSASS & Law). Direct links to electronic format materials are often provided right in their catalog record.

Access to materials not physically held in the Kelvin Smith Library or other on-campus locations can be obtained or requested by the following means: Search and access our electronic collections at Electronic Journals & Electronic Books. Submit your requests for retrieval from our storage facilities using the R.R.C.C. or Iron Mountain forms.

If you need to borrow books that are not available in Case libraries' local collections, you may search at OhioLINK, where you can request circulating items directly. Please remember that items in our local collections currently checked out (or otherwise unavailable for loan) may be requested through OhioLINK, when copies of them are also available in other member libraries' holdings. OhioLINK does not presently offer a mechanism for providing delivery of articles from journals, however.

Once you have determined that you cannot obtain loans from any of our Case local collections or through OhioLINK, or articles from any of our Case local print or electronic collections, then it is time to submit requests through your ILLiad account. Please also keep in mind that we generally will not fill any requests through interlibrary loan for materials you can obtain directly from our local print or electronic collections or from OhioLINK libraries.

Checking our local collections and resources first can save you much time in obtaining the materials needed for your research. By making use of locally accessible resources (including OhioLINK) for loans, you have the added advantage of more flexible loan periods and renewal policies, unlike those borrowed using ILLiad.