The temporary closing of the Kelvin Smith Library has affected many of the services it traditionally offers, including the library’s ability to reproduce physical items, such as journal articles and book chapters from other libraries through interlibrary loan and OhioLINK. To compensate, Kelvin Smith Library previously announced expanded access to some book collections through its membership in the HathiTrust, as well as book offerings through the National Emergency Library.
For access to journal articles that are not available with current resources, the library has partnered with Reprints Desk, a new, temporary option for expanded access. The service is a private commercial document delivery company and will charge a fee for each article the library borrows.
With a significant cost-per-article (sometimes as high as $50 per article, or more), all requests will be reviewed to ensure there is an urgent need and cannot wait until standard services resume. Faculty and graduate students should continue to place requests via the normal interlibrary loan forms and should include a note indicating if the need is urgent. The library will send urgent requests to Reprints Desk.
Undergraduate students who may have an urgent need must first discuss the request with a research services librarian (RSL) to determine whether alternative resources might be available. If there are no alternative resources, the RSL will refer the patron to interlibrary loan to submit a request. The patron must provide the name of the approving RSL.
If the need is not urgent, the library will retain the request and process it through the normal channels as best as it can. If the library cannot fill the requests from its own collections and subscriptions, then interlibrary loan staff will send the request to Reprints Desk. The turnaround time should be better than traditional interlibrary loan.
During this time, the Kelvin Smith Library and its staff stay committed to supporting the research needs of the CWRU community. Please continue to let the library know if there are additional ways it can be of service to you.