Courier delivery is once a day (Monday-Friday) -- items don't ship on the weekends or holidays.
Some loanable items take longer to arrive, between 3-8 business days.
No more walk-in/direct borrowing with former MnPALS schools (St. Catherine, St. Thomas, Bethel, Concordia, Northwestern). Instead, use HamCAT to request items be sent directly to Bush Library for you to pick up.
Check out (loan) times vary and renewals, the ability to extend a loan period, are determined by each lending library.
HamCAT is the Hamline Bush Library catalog search engine. It has replaced CLICsearch.
All loan items will be accompanied by loan slip paperwork. Please keep the paperwork inserted in your borrowed book will as it will be used by Hamline to return your loan to the correct lender.
Through the library, Hamline students, faculty and staff have access to materials here, near and far.
Hamline alumni may borrow up to 5 print items at one time from our local Bush Library collection. See our Alumni & Community Services page for more details on borrowing content from other libraries.
Use HamCAT, the library's catalog, to find materials:
A few basics
Articles are generally electronically delivered within 1 to 5 days, but can take longer depending upon the lender.
Some DVD and videos are not requestable.
When you need to search beyond Hamline and our MnPALS partner libraries, use HamCAT's "Expand My Results" checkbox in the left panel to find items at various libraries around the world (including the University of Minnesota).
The lending library determines how long items are loaned. This varies from 3-12 weeks for books.
Items borrowed through the Interlibrary Loan process are a bit different than materials borrowed from Hamline or other MnPALS partner libraries. Different lending rules apply to these items:
Difficult items to borrow through Interlibrary Loan:
1. Use HamCAT to find and borrow.
2. Login to HamCAT to renew items.
3. Avoid fees - Return library materials by the due date
4. Use "Add Results Beyond" in HamCAT to expand your search 
5. Use HamCAT My Library Account to manage your interlibrary loan requests
6. Contact the Central Service Desk with questions
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Select your user status above to learn more about what Hamline printing and library services are available for you.
These items can generally be renewed up to 2 times if no one else has requested them. You can avoid fees by renewing your items.
How to renew items:
If you have reached the limit on the total number of days allowed for a loaned item, you will need to return it to the library.
Interlibrary loan items often cannot be renewed, but if you ask us ahead of the due date, we will attempt to get it renewed for you. Email us at mha-ill@hamline.edu or use My Library Account in HamCAT.
Our FAQs page answers more questions about Interlibrary Loans.
Delivery time of an electronic or photocopied article will vary depending on the provider. Articles from other MnPALS institutions and the University of Minnesota generally arrive in 3 to 5 business days. Articles from other institutions, especially those that are out-of-state, usually take more than 5 business days to arrive.
You will be notified by email when a print article is ready for pick up. However, most articles are now delivered electronically and can be accessed by logging into your HamCAT My Library Account. Photocopied articles are held at the Central Service Desk on the 1st floor of Bush Library for pick up.
Copyright restrictions do not allow us to fill requests for an entire journal issue.
Books from the University of Minnesota usually take about 3 to 8 business days to arrive. If we need to go out-of-state, it usually takes 10 to 14 business days. However, some international requests can take up to two months to fill.
Borrowers are notified by email when materials become available. You may also stop by or call the CSD to see if your book has arrived. Be sure to pick up your materials as soon as possible; the loan period for these materials is set by the lending institution and the clock starts ticking when the material arrives at Hamline, not when you pick it up from the CSD.
Books borrowed via ILL often cannot be renewed.
We do not recommend requesting textbooks via ILL. Most libraries do not purchase textbooks. Those that do tend to reserve them for their own students. If you do request a textbook via ILL and we are able to get it for you, note that you will not be able to keep the textbook for the entire semester and the textbook cannot be renewed.
If you live more than 50 miles from campus (e.g. MFA and graduate Education Learning Communities), you can request Distance Learner Status. This will enable you to request electronic copies of articles that are available in print format only (not online) at Bush Library.
We do NOT mail books or other physical items to Distance Learners.
Contact the Central Service Desk if you have any questions or if you need help verifying whether an item is owned by Hamline. Delivery time for this service varies depending on such factors as availability and the time of year. Please plan your research accordingly.
Students living and studying off-campus may also want to check their local public or nearby academic library.
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials.
Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research". If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use", that user may be liable for copyright infringement.
This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.
