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Home » Services » Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

Interlibrary loan (ILL)

If you do not know your username and/or password or if you're unable to login, contact the John Jay Technology Helpdesk at 212-237-8200 or helpdesk@jjay.cuny.edu. You can also try resetting your password at https://reset.jjay.cuny.edu.

New users should first log into this ILL site using their John Jay email username (excluding the @jjay.cuny.edu portion) and password, then complete the registration form that appears. Once you complete the form you can start requesting materials.

If you do not know your username and/or password or if you're unable to login, contact the John Jay Technology Helpdesk at 212-237-8200 or helpdesk@jjay.cuny.edu. You can also try resetting your password at https://reset.jjay.cuny.edu.

What is interlibrary loan (ILL)?

ILL is a service that John Jay faculty, staff, students and retirees can use to request research materials that cannot be obtained via the John Jay College Library and the inter-CUNY and SUNY libraries book request service.

How do I request materials?

Follow these steps:
  1. Login with your John Jay email username (minus the @jjay.cuny.edu portion) and password.
  2. Complete the registration form (the form appears if this is your first time using ILL).
  3. Complete the request form that corresponds to the type of material you are requesting (e.g. book or article).
We will be in touch via email about the status of your request.

More Details

Books will be available for pick up from the first floor circulation desk typically within 1-2 weeks, depending on the title. We will email you when it arrives.

Articles will be ready to download from your ILL account typically within a week, depending on the title. We will email you when it arrives. Scanned materials are available for download from your account for a 30-day period from the date it has been received.

Contact ILL: libill@jjay.cuny.edu or 646-557-4777.

ILL policies and procedures questions


For John Jay patrons

Research materials such as books, articles, and theses which cannot be obtained via the John Jay College Library and the inter-CUNY and SUNY libraries book request service can be requested. Ebooks are difficult to obtain via ILL due to publishers' licensing restrictions.

Limitations might be placed on book requests for undergraduate students depending on the title. Please email libill@jjay.cuny.edu if you have any questions.

Loan periods for books and other materials vary depending on the lending library's policies. They can range from 3 weeks to several months.
Articles and other scanned documents are downloadable from your ILL account for 30 days from the date they are received.

Books will be available for pick up from the first floor circulation desk typically within 1-2 weeks, depending on the title. We will email you when it arrives.
Articles, book chapters and other scanned items will be ready to download from your ILL account typically within a week, depending on the title. We will email you when it arrives. You will have 30 days from the time your document is received to download it from your ILL account.

You will receive an email from libill@jjay.cuny.edu when your item becomes available. Please make sure your current email address, preferably your John Jay email address, is listed in your ILL account.

Log into your ILL account. Under the "Outstanding" section in the main menu of your ILL account, click on the request in question. Under the "Request Information" table you will see the request's "Transaction Status". Please email libill@jjay.cuny.edu for further Information about the request's status.

We will upload the document to your ILL account under the "Electronically Received Articles" section of the main menu. We will email you when it becomes available. Your item will be downloadable from your account for a 30-day period.

Generally, no. However, if there are additional fees such as copyright or special borrowing and scanning fees charged by a supplying library we will let you know. Libraries might also impose late return fees or a lost book fee.

Generally, we do not have a limit, but if we receive more than 10 requests per day we may take a few business days to process them. Restrictions might apply to the number of books an undergraduate student can submit, depending on the title(s) requested.
For article requests, there might be copyright restrictions on the number of articles you can request from a single journal issue or title without paying a copyright fee. We will email you if there are restrictions.

Under the "Checked Out Items" section in the main menu of your account, find the book you would like to renew and click on the "Renew" button near the book title. The "Renew" button will be inactive/unclickable if the lending library does not allow renewals. You can email us at libill@jjay.cuny.edu if your book is unrenewable.


For libraries requesting materials from the John Jay College Library

We lend to non-profit and academic institutions around the world. We do not supply items to law firms.

We supply items from our circulating "stacks" collection along with scans of journal articles, book chapters and other materials. Email libill@jjay.cuny.edu to confirm whether we will supply a specific title.

Submit requests via OCLC WorldShare ILL. Our OCLC symbol is VVJ. If your library does not use WorldShare ILL, email your request to libill@jjay.cuny.edu.

We do not charge for ILL, however, if an item is damaged or lost we will ask the borrowing library for a replacement copy in good condition.

Eight weeks with one renewal as long as a John Jay/CUNY/SUNY patron has not placed a hold request on the title.

The Criminal Trial Transcript Collection will be fully digitized by June 2025. Search the Digital Collections site by entering the trial number in the following format: "Trial###". If the transcript is not found, please request it by emailing Special Collections at libspcoll@jjay.cuny.edu.