Interlibrary Services

Get articles, books, and other materials you need

We’ll borrow, scan, and deliver what you need, where you need it. The bottom line: whatever you need, we’ll do our best to get it for you, whether that means searching the Triangle or libraries around the world. We’ll scan Libraries materials for you, and if you need a book or DVD but can’t come to the library in person, we’ll mail it to you. We got you.

This service was previously called Tripsaver. We’re still here, we just have a new name!

Place a Request

Article

Request a journal article, delivered as a PDF to your email

Book

Request a book, delivered to the NC State University Library of your choice, or sent to your home by mail

Book Chapter

Request a chapter or portion of a book, delivered as a PDF to your email

Other

Request other items, including conference proceedings, dissertations and theses, standards, and more

View Your Requests

Ways To Make Your Research Easier

Bulk ILL (New!)

Got a citation manager full of articles you need to request? Working on a systematic review in Covidence? You can send us a spreadsheet or an RIS file from your citation manager or Covidence, and we’ll automatically create the requests for you. No more manually searching and requesting articles! Upload citations in bulk for Interlibrary Services.

Make your PDFs searchable

We automatically process the PDFs we deliver to make them searchable. English and Latin-script languages will be searchable when they’re delivered to you. If you have PDFs in non-Latin script, such as Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or any other language, email the PDF to library_ils@ncsu.edu or reply to the article delivery email we sent, and we’ll make it searchable for you.

Scanning

If you just need an article or a chapter from a book the Libraries owns in print, we’ll scan it for you. Just place a request using the appropriate button above, such as Book Chapter or Article. There is no charge for this service.

Home delivery

Any NC State student, faculty, or staff member can request home delivery, whether they are obtained from another library or owned by NC State. There is no charge for this service, and we’ll even send you a return label so you never have to pay for shipping. Learn more about Home delivery for extension users and distance learners.

When to expect the materials you request

If the Libraries doesn’t have the material you request, we’ll borrow it from another library—including articles, book chapters, entire books, or DVDs. There is no charge for this service for NC State students, faculty, and staff.

Articles and book chapters are delivered to your email as PDFs, typically within 24 hours.

Books and other physical items such as DVDs or microfilm may take 3–10 days to be delivered to campus or your home, depending on where they’re coming from.

We prioritize borrowing from Triangle research libraries through our TRLN Direct service, which offers the fastest delivery (within 1–3 days). If an item is not available in the Triangle, we’ll find what you need from libraries around the country or even worldwide.

Lending to other libraries, companies, and individuals

Friends of the Library

For Friends members with a borrower card, the Libraries will scan articles from sources in our collection and deliver them to you via email. We will scan and deliver up to 30 articles per year from any NC State library, including any of our branch libraries. Digital Delivery for Friends of the Libraries patrons

Non-NC State Patrons

The NC State University Libraries will scan articles from sources in our collection and deliver them to you via email. We will scan and deliver articles from any NC State library, including any of our branch libraries. There is a fee associated with this service. Lending information for Non-NC State Patrons

Non-OCLC Libraries

We provide a lending service for non-profit, non-OCLC affiliated libraries. For a cost-recovery fee, we will deliver copies of items in the NC State University Libraries collections. We will also loan books to those willing to abide by our loan request agreement.