Q. Can I get Journals or Magazines through inter-library loan?

In the Inter-Library Loan service, we try to obtain the book or periodical article you need from another owning library, either locally or nationally.  We provide this service to those who have a valid library card. Audiovisual materials such as DVDs or CDs, however are not available through this service.

Any Pasadena Public Library location can start the process for you in person or over the phone; just have your library card and the author and title of the book on hand or in your case, the author, title, date of publication and page numbers of the article you need.  (Because we need to clarify with you the maximum allowable fees and any deadlines with which you're working, a “real time” exchange is preferable to e-mail.  Read on for more detail.)

Each interlibrary loan request costs $2.00.  You may pay the $2.00 fee when you make the request, or we can attach the charge to your library card account.  The $2.00 is nonrefundable, even if no one agrees to send us the material.  If the loaning library imposes lending or shipping charges, those will be passed along to you as well; we handle that by making a note of the maximum you're willing to spend (and saying "no thanks" to any library that exceeds that cost).  If the charges should exceed your maximum amount we will call you before accepting the request(s) from the other library.  For each request we contact up to five libraries that own the item. 

It can take anywhere from 2-6 weeks to receive an item, with 4 weeks being the average.