Due Dates and Loan Periods: The Impact on Faculty and Graduate Research

Abstract Loan periods provided by lending institutions vary greatly from the traditional 30 days to a generous 120 days. This study attempts to determine if the length of interlibrary loan (ILL) loan periods have a positive or negative impact on the research process. By surveying faculty members and graduate students, we sought to know how they were using print materials obtained through ILL, if loan periods were long enough for their research needs, and what was their desired loan period. This paper reports the results of that study, along with an analysis of overdue and renewal request data, with the goal of informing local and national conversations about aligning loan policies with researcher needs.