Library of Congress

The Library of Congress (LC) is a “library of last resort”, and it lends materials free of charge for use on the premises of the borrowing library.

Items may be requested through OCLC Resource Sharing or through the ILLiad form on LC’s website.

OCLC Requests

To request items through OCLC, enter the lender symbol DLC in all five spaces on the OCLC ILL workform.  Entering DLC fewer than five times will result in rejection of the request.

ILLiad Requests

To use the request form on LC's website, a library first needs to register as a borrower.  LC will then send a username and password for logging into its online ILL request system.

Requesting Microfilm

Microfilm of newspapers or items in LC's Manuscript Division may be borrowed through normal ILL procedures.  For papers and manuscripts, use of the Manuscript Division's Finding Aids is highly recommended for identifying the film roll which is needed.

Requesting Photocopies

Copies are articles from journals and magazines may be requested through normal ILL procedures, and are usually provided free of charge.

Although LC will lend microfilm of many newspapers, it will not fill ILL requests for photocopies of newspaper articles.  However, copies of newspaper articles are available for a fee from LC's Photoduplication Service.

For More Information

See the Interlibrary Loan pages of LC's website.