Ottumwa Public Library

1. interlibrary loan requests must be made in person (sorry, no phone calls)
2. a patron requesting an interlibrary loan must live in Wapello county
3. a patron's account must be in good standing (no late stuff, no fines)
4. the requested item should not be less that one year old
5. OPL should not own a copy of the item you're requesting

If you meet the all of the above criteria, then we'd be happy to request a book for you.

However, there are some other things you should know about ILLs before you request one. First of all, they're going to cost you a little. OPL asks you to pay $.75 for each book that you order to help offset the expense of shipping the books.

Secondly, there is a limit to how many ILLs you can have out at one time. You can only have three.

Next, because we are asking another library to loan you their book, they set the terms of the loan. It is the lending library, not OPL, that decides if they will allow the loan ,determines the due dates, and decides whether or not you will be allowed to renew the book (most libraries do not allow renewals of ILL materials).

Finally, if you are late returning your ILL, it is going to cost you more than the normal late fee. In fact, patrons with items more than two weeks overdue begin accruing fines of $1.00 per day per overdue item.