Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Policy

Terms

The Federal Highway Administration ( FHWA) Research Library accepts interlibrary borrowing requests from other libraries worldwide.

We do NOT loan directly to individuals, which includes transportation professionals in State or local governments, universities, and contractors/consultants, etc. Individuals should request materials through their local library. A local library could be a public, academic, corporate, or government agency library.

Request Methods

Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) Resource Sharing (OCLC symbol: FHATR), mail, email, fax, telephone (if followed up with an American Library Association ILL form).

Materials Available for Loan

We will lend circulating materials in the library collection.

Materials Not Available for Loan

File copies of FHWA reports, most reference/legal materials, entire issues or volumes of periodicals, historical materials. The librarian reserves the right to grant or deny any request based on her discretion.

Circulation Period

Our loan period is 6 weeks, with the possibility of one 3-week renewal.

Charges

As a Federal library, the FHWA Research Library does not charge borrowers. However, we reserve the right to deny requests of non reciprocal libraries and document delivery vendors.

Recalls

Items will be recalled if requested by an FHWA employee.

Shipping Policy

Materials are generally shipped First Class. We will ship Library Rate for books that are unusually large or heavy. Federal Express shipping may be used if requested.

As stated in section 4.9 of the Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States, “The requesting library is responsible for borrowed material from the time it leaves the supplying library until it has been returned to and received by the supplying library.”  Therefore, the borrowing library assumes responsibility for replacement or charges for lost or damaged materials and may wish to insure return.