Services for Remote Users - Tips

The WorldCat Local catalog allows you to search for materials held at the UW Libraries, Summit Libraries (Washington and Oregon academic libraries), and libraries around the world, all at the same time. From within WorldCat Local, UW Students, faculty and staff can request materials from all of these libraries.

To Request materials from within WorldCat Local, simply click the button. For students who are outside of the Seattle-Tacoma area, WorldCat Local makes it easy to view and request materials held at many libraries. To learn more about WorldCat Local, view our Search Information page.

Requests for materials held at UW or Summit libraries can be held for pickup at any UW or Summit library.

Requests for materials held by other libraries are routed to Interlibrary Loan and can be held for pickup at any UW library. ILL materials can be mailed to you within the U.S. only for $7.00/item.

The Libraries tab shows the location of libraries near you, based on your zipcode, that own the item. It may be that a local public library has the item you need.

Can Materials be Mailed to Me?

Interlibrary Loan will mail:

UW owned items to any address worldwide. Within the U.S. the cost is $7.00/item. Outside of the U.S. the cost is the actual cost of mailing, usually no less than $30.00/item.

Summit and other ILL items will only be mailed to addresses within the U.S.; cost is $7.00/item

You are responsible for the cost of returning the materials to the UW Libraries.

Requests for materials you wish to have mailed must all be made through the Interlibrary Loan system.

UW and Summit held items will need to be entered into the request forms in ILL.

Items held by other libraries can be requested through WorldCat Local as it automatically places the request in the ILL system.

Verify that the address in your ILL record is the correct address.

If you have the citation for an article you need, but you're not sure if you can access it online, your best bet is to search the UW Libraries E-Journals page for the title of your journal (not the title of the article). If the library does have access to the journal, click on the provider that gives access to that journal for the year in which your article was published. This will take you into the specific electronic resource that provides full-text access to the article you need.

To learn how to find an article on a particular topic, visit the Get an Article page for help.

 

 

Using WorldCat Local to Find Library Holdings in Your Area

The WorldCat Local catalog allows you to see the holdings of libraries worldwide. If you'd like to see if a library in your local area owns a copy of the book you're looking for, you can search in WorldCat Local, and then click on the Libraries tab that appears below the Get This Item section.

This will display a list of libraries which own that item. Enter your location information (zip code or city/state) to find libraries closest to you that own that item.

For more information on library listings and results in WorldCat Local, visit WorldCat Help.