Interlibrary Loan FAQ

For TMC Library affiliates, routine services are supplied free, subject to the following terms:

A single user is entitled to a maximum of 15 free requests per calendar year. Further ILL requests will be filled @$15.00 each until year’s end.
Duplicate and/or lost requests will be ordered at the expense of the patron. ILL users will be charged a $5.00 service fee for books requested through interlibrary loan, that are not picked up within 14 days of notification.
Fee Schedule for Customers Not Affiliated with a Texas Medical Center Institution.

If you do not recall your username and/or password, call 713-799-7105 or 713-799-7147 email tmc.ill@library.tmc.edu. Note: Library staff cannot see your password; however, the password can be changed to a generic one, and you will be asked to select a new password once you log in.

We will make every reasonable effort to obtain any library materials requested via ILL. There are some things that cannot be obtained or that can be very difficult to obtain through ILL, including textbooks, recently released items, archival materials, dissertations, obsolete formats (film strips, VHS, LPs, etc.) and conference proceedings. We will not process requests for leisure reading or any material outside the scope of medical studies..

No. Unfortunately publisher agreements do not allow libraries to loan e-books to another institution. If you would like to request a title through our interlibrary loan (ILL) service, we will make every effort to obtain a physical copy of that book.

Any ILL requests for titles that are only available in a digital format will be canceled.

Yes, the Library will try to fill requests for textbooks. However, please keep in mind that it can be very difficult to get current edition textbooks through Interlibrary Loan since libraries generally do not lend these to other libraries. Your request could be cancelled if no library agrees to lend. Please also keep in mind that loan periods are determined by the owning library and may not cover the duration of a course.

TMC Library electronic resources are accessed with the OpenAthens system. More detailed information on this system can be found in our OpenAthens LibGuide.

Absolutely! Unfortunately, our system does not communicate with any campus systems, so please check your profile occasionally to make sure that your email address, mailing address, suite numbers and phone number are still current.

If you are in PubMed, and the article title is in [brackets], the article is very likely Non-English. The language of the article will be shown there. When ordering, please check the box that you will accept a non-English article; otherwise we will cancel the request.

All books must be picked up at The TMC Library Circulation Desk located at 1133 John Freeman Blvd, Houston, TX 77030.

If this is the case, please call us at 713-799-7105 or email tmc.ill@library.tmc.edu as soon as possible to try to cancel it. If we have already processed it, then it cannot be cancelled, and you may still be responsible for any charges.

Delivery times will vary; most articles will be delivered electronically within 3-5 days, many arriving within 48 hours. Book requests will take longer to arrive, usually 7-10 business days or longer.

If you receive a recall notice for an interlibrary loan item, please return it to the Interlibrary Loan Office immediately. We will try to locate another copy for you. All materials borrowed through interlibrary loan are subject to recall by the lending library at any time. Failure to respond to a recall notice will result in a block on your library privileges and may cause fines and/or fees to be billed to you.