For Baldwin Wallace University's purposes, Interlibrary Loan is defined as the borrowing and lending of materials OUTSIDE of our consortial partnerships with OPAL, OhioLINK, and SearchOhio libraries. Generally, Interlibrary Loan (ILL) involves libraries outside of the state of Ohio.
Returnable items (books, DVDs, etc.) must be picked up at Ritter Library's Information Desk during staffed hours.
Non-returnable items (articles, chapters from books or ebooks) will generally be distributed electronically to your BW email.
ILL requests can be made for items we do not own or have access to through our database subscriptions and consortial memberships. Please do not request items without first checking to see if we own it! You can check for books here. Check for articles here (enter the journal title).
You may also submit article requests directly from our databases if you see this icon: 
You can submit your requests anytime, but Ritter Library staff only process requests during our "staffed" hours with the exception of 30 minutes after opening and 30 minutes before closing.
Ritter Library obtains as many items for free as possible. Please note that lending libraries determine the costs they charge us (the borrowing library).
Effective July 2024, for faculty, returnable items (books, DVDs, music scores, etc.) will incur a $5 charge for postage and shipping even if the item is otherwise sent at no charge to Ritter Library. For both returnable and non-returnable items, we will only obtain items at a cost if faculty agree to be responsible for the charges.
For students, returnable items which are not picked up for use may also result in a $5 charge.
Items borrowed through our consortial partnerships with OPAL, OhioLINK, and SearchOhio libraries are not considered ILL and are not subject to shipping costs.
Article requests generally take 1 - 3 days but can occasionally take longer. Articles found only in print format will take longer than articles found in electronic format. Items being mailed will take at least 3 business days after the item leaves the lending library before it will be ready for pick-up. There are a variety of factors which come into play, so we are never able to make promises regarding length of time. Our goal, however, is to get you your materials as quickly as possible given the constraints of the process.
Loan periods are determined by the lending library, but generally are around 3 weeks for returnable items. You may contact us if you need to renew your item; renewals are granted by the lending library only. Electronic items sent via Article Exchange MUST be accessed within 30 days of the date the link is sent. Items not accessed within 30 days of the link being sent will be purged. After the link is first accessed, you have 60 days to access the article. We will not re-request an article if a patron does not access, download or save it in the time frame specified.
