Library Usage & Guides

To request an ILL, you need to sign in to Discovery with your ACES User Name and Password.  Select your title for ILL by clicking on the icon

Interlibrary loan (ILL) is a service by which items not owned by the SAC Library can be borrowed or obtained from another library. San Antonio College students, faculty and staff without overdue items or fines may request items through ILL. Generally, there is no charge for ILL, but some libraries may charge a fee to loan a book or copy an article. These fees must be paid when an item is picked up. The SAC Library pays mailing fees.

• The fine for an overdue ILL item is $.10 per day per item.
• The charge for a lost ILL item is set by the lending library and charged to the individual who received the item through ILL.

ILL requests will be processed as quickly as possible and a requestor will be notified if his/her deadline cannot be met.

• Items requested from another Alamo Colleges Library arrive in 2 to 3 working days.
• Items requested from other San Antonio libraries arrive in 3 to 5 working days.
• Items requested from libraries outside San Antonio arrive in 7 to 21 working days, depending upon the geographic location of the lending library.

•  An individual will be notified by telephone or e-mail when the ILL item requested is available.
• ILL items may be picked up at the Reserve Desk in MLC 409. Individuals must pay any charges at that time.   
• ILL books/media items may be returned to the Reserve Desk in Room 409..

Lending libraries set the terms of a loan, and the ILL borrower must abide by these terms. Loaned books/media items must be returned promptly to avoid jeopardizing SAC Library relations with lending libraries. Because libraries generally do not loan the following items, the SAC Library does not request them: multi-volume sets, textbooks for classroom use, rare books, manuscripts, audiovisual materials, reference materials, and entire issues of periodicals.

The Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code) governs the making of photocopies of copyrighted material. Libraries are authorized to furnish a photocopy if it is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research."  If an ILL borrower uses a photocopy for purposes in excess of "fair use," he/she may be liable for copyright infringement.