Resource Requests

Welcome to the resource sharing site for Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. This is where you need to go for learning how to submit InterLibrary Loan (ILL) requests, place a hold on a book, or request an article. Please take some time to thoroughly read how resource sharing works at Gordon-Conwell and the policies that govern that sharing at your respective campus. If you have any questions, please email the ILL Staff at ill@gordonconwell.edu.

Here are 4 non-negotiable qualifications you need to meet in order to use resource sharing at GCTS:

1. Be a current student, staff, or faculty member.

2. You must have your Patron ID card with you at the time of pick up. (For students this is your student ID card; for staff/faculty this must be whatever was used to create your library account such as your driver's license, old student ID, or guest card). 

3. You must read and sign the Overdue Book Policy and have this confirmed by the library staff.

4. You may not have any outstanding fines or overdue books on your library account. If you have either of these at the time that the library processes your ILL request, you will be contacted by email and be required to set your account in order before they can proceed with your requests.

Like all things in seminary, even the library has its own set of terms that you will want to be familiar with. As far as resource sharing goes, there are three terms/types of requests you should be aware of.

• Hold - a hold is placed on an item when the item is owned at your specific campus library but is checked out. This means that the person who currently has the item cannot renew it and must return it when their loan period has ended (loan periods are 28 days for GCTS items). When the book is returned, an email is automatically generated to the email address you put in your library account notifying you that your hold has arrived. Once this email is sent, you have seven calendar days to pick up your item from your library. If you do not pick up the item, it is then returned to circulation so that other patrons may use it.
• ILL - (InterLibrary Loan) Refers to the largest cooperative of resource sharing libraries in the world.  Items are loaned to GCTS from these institutions for your use. For example, if a student from Jacksonville requests an item, the ILL librarian responsible reviews the request and asks other libraries to send a copy to the Jacksonville library for the student to use. When the student is done with the material, they MUST return it to their GCTS library branch which will then return the item to the lending library. Please be aware that the lending library sets the due date for the materials they lend.
• Intercampus Loan -  At this time, any GCTS campus library can have an item from the Goddard Library in South Hamilton sent to them. This means that when your resource request form is received and the item is not held by your library but is held at the Goddard Library, the copy in Hamilton will be sent to your respective library for you rather than requested from another library outside of GCTS. 

For an overview of how the resource request process works, take a moment to view the info graphic below. If you have an questions, contact the ILL librarian at ill@gordonconwell.edu.