ILL Lending to Libraries

Eligibility 

The Harvard Law School Library will lend and photocopy material from our collection for other libraries.

The Harvard Law School library does not lend or photocopy materials for individuals directly.

• If you are not a member of the Harvard Law School community and wish to obtain Harvard material through Interlibrary Loan, please consult the interlibrary loan office at your local, academic, firm or public library.
• If you are affiliated with Harvard University, please ask a staff member at your faculty library about services provided.
• If you would like to visit the library to use our collections, please see our access policies.

Requesting Materials

Before submitting a request, please confirm that the Harvard Law School owns the item by searching for the item in HOLLIS. If you are using our online form, please fill in the form completely. Fill out separate requests for each item requested,

Interlibrary Loan requests should be sent via an ISO ILL system (e.g., ILL Manager or ILLiad), via OCLC or via our Interlibrary Loan Request Form. Our materials appear in RLIN (MAHL) and OCLC (HVL). Please note that this form replaces all ALA, CLA, IFLA, bibliographic records and other types of paper forms. We are no longer able to accept requests via e-mail, fax, telephone mail or Ariel.

Material Available for Interlibrary Loan

We will generally lend:

• Circulating items from out catalog
• Harvard Law School theses if a circulating copy is available
• Reels from our pre-Soviet microfilm collection

We will not lend:

• Primary law
• Government publications
• Whole issues of periodicals
• Items published before 1900
• Fragile items
• Microforms (except as listed above)
• Reserve items
• Looseleafs
• Items in our Special Collections. Please contact the Special Collection Department directly if you need access to rare or archival materials.

Photocopies

• We will make photocopies from items in our collection, subject to the requirements of copyright law.
• Please contact us if you have specific questions about copying an item in our collections.
• We will not photocopy fragile items or items in our Special Collections. Please contact the Special Collections Department directly if you need access to rare or archival materials.

Copyright

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies and other reproductions of copyrighted materials. Under certain conditions specified in the law libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship or research. If a user makes a request for, or later uses a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of fair use, that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.

Shipping

Within the United States

• Loans will be sent via FedEx Ground. If you need rush shipping we can ship via FedEx Overnight.
• Photocopies can be sent via Ariel, Odyssey, fax, email, U.S. Mail or FedEx Overnight.

Outside of the United States

• Loans will be sent via International FedEx at the International Economy rate (approximately 2-3 days shipping). If you need faster shipping we can ship via FedEx International Priority.
• Photocopies can be sent via Ariel, Odyssey, fax, U.S. Mail (within North America) or AirMail (outside of North America) or fedEx International Priority.

Please see the schedule below for our fees.

Returning Loans

Please be sure to use a trackable shipper such as UPS or FedEx when returning items; ship items to the address below.

Billing and Fees

Payment via OCLC ILL Fee Management (IFM) is preferred. Otherwise, we send invoices monthly. We accept payment of invoices via check, IFLA vouchers or money order. We do not accept credit card payments.

The Harvard Law Library is a member of NELLCO. We do not charge NELLCO libraries. Please indicate on your request if you are a NELLCO library.

Fees for U.S. and North American Libraries

Fees for Libraries outside of North America

Contact Information 

Interlibrary Loan Lending Services
Harvard Law School Library
1545 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
USA

Phone: 617-495-3176
Fax: 617-496-2666
Email: hlsill@law.harvard.edu

We cannot accept phone or email ILL requests.

The Interlibrary Loan Office is located in the offices behind the Langdell Circulation Desk.

Hours

Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.