Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary loan requests can be made in person at the circulation desk of the library, over the telephone by calling 641.628.4268, or by filling out the Request an Item form..

The Pella Public Library will make every attempt to borrow requested materials for our patrons. Please understand that not all requests can be filled.

All registered Pella Public Library patrons may request items from interlibrary loan. Your account must be in good standing prior to making an ILL request. If you are not a registered Pella Public Library patron, you must register for a library card before your ILL request can be processed.

When making a request, please provide as much information about the desired item(s) as possible. Information such as exact spellings of the author’s name, the complete title of the item, format of the material, the year of publication, etc. all help with locating the correct item.

Currently, the Pella Public Library borrows all types of materials, including articles from magazines, newspapers and journals. However, entire issues of these publications cannot be interlibrary loaned due to copyright restrictions.

Requests take approximately a week to 10 days to arrive at our library. This time may vary based on the location of the lending library, staffing conditions, and the type of delivery service used.

The lending library dictates the loaning period and terms of the loan request. The Pella Public Library has no say in when an item must be returned or how the item can be used since we are the borrowers and the item is not our own. Failure to return an interlibrary loan to the Pella Public Library will result in a bill as assessed from the loaning library.

When an interlibrary loan request is made, the initial search for the item is made using a statewide database of other Iowa libraries. If we are unable to locate the requested item, or no Iowa library is willing or able to loan the item to us, then a second search is conducted on a national and international database of libraries. If we still can't locate the item you requested, we will call you and notify you of the situation.