Dear All,
 
In the United States, and probably also in many other countries,
individuals can borrow books through a system called Interlibrary Loan.
Your public city or county library can borrow books from other libraries.
University libraries are even more effective at this and usually have a
whole department for interlibrary loans. The rules differ from place to
place. Some libraries charge a fee for this service, so ask first. Usually,
they just want to recoup the cost of postage, but the lending library may
also charge your library a fee to use the book. Your library may cover this
cost through government subsidies, but please don't imagine that it doesn't
cost anyone anything.
 
Ask your librarian ahead of time what information is needed for an
interlibrary loan. Generally, they need to know at least the author and
title of the book, and will also ask for the date and place of publication.
For a journal article, the author, date, article title, and journal title
are all important, and the librarian may also ask you where you found the
reference, so it can be confirmed. Librarians don't like to ask other
librarians to look for an article in the wrong journal issue. It's not
nice, and it doesn't get your article, either. The larger libraries are
hooked up to OCLC and other "union lists" that tell them which libraries
own copies of books and journals. These allow them to send messages to the
right libraries without wasting time asking libraries that don't have what
you want. Whether the library will agree to lend the book is another
matter.
 
The librarian will try to find the book or article from the closest and
least expensive source, within the same state if possible. If no copy can
be found in the state, they will search farther. It may seem odd at first
that they do not go directly to the Library of Congress or the other big
federal libraries, but these are actually the libraries of last resort.
Otherwise, the federal libraries would be swamped with requests.
 
Books are generally sent through the mail. Obviously, no library will risk
sending their rarest books in the mail, so you will have to visit the
Academy of Natural Sciences or some other specialized library if you want
to see really valuable books. Sometimes, surprisingly, they will send you a
book you didn't really expect to get, but you may have to read it there at
your library, not take it home.
 
Journal articles are now usually sent as photocopies or telefaxes. There
may be a page charge for the copies; remember that the page charge has to
cover the cost of sending a library assistant to locate, copy, and mail the
article you requested. Since these assistants are not malacologists, it is
usually a good idea to have the librarian add a note to your request,
something like "Please send plates as well as text". I have occasionally
been disappointed to receive only the text, but as most of you know,
journal plates (page-sized illustrations) may be gathered at the end of an
issue for ease in printing. Don't expect miracles; the world over,
photocopies are not as good as originals.
 
Sometimes rarity is not the problem. Occasionally, your librarian will find
many libraries that have a book or journal, but no library will be willing
to send or copy the book because every copy is too fragile. A lot of books
were printed on acidic paper that is now very yellow and brittle. These
books can be a real problem to the researcher. But if you ask your
librarian sweetly, he or she may give you a list of the libraries that own
the book, and the next time you visit Louisville, Chicago, Philadelphia,
etc., you can make time for a trip to the library to see it.
 
Sorry to write such a long message, but I didn't have time to write a short
one, to paraphrase the late Mr. Lincoln.
 
Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama