Interlibrary Loan Request Histories and Privacy

Library_card Last year, we “decoupled” library user names from ILL requests, keeping only the last three years of requests in case people needed to consult them. Once again, in order to keep ILL request information as private as possible, this January we will be delinking ILL requests in our ILLiad database. This means that we will be separating information about request titles from information about who requested them. (This policy change is motivated by the idea that libraries should not keep more information about their users’ requests than necessary.)

Previously, you could find a list of everything you ever requested through ILL by logging into your ILL account and clicking on View > All Requests (which includes items currently checked out) or View > Request History. While this can serve as a useful record, in the future, if you want to keep a copy of your request history, then please download your requests using the instructions below. We will continue to keep all requests from 2014 forward until further notice; eventually we will only keep a rolling history of one year or less, though, in order to help ensure that ILL requests remain confidential.

If you do want to save a list of all your ILL requests, though, just follow these simple steps…by December 31, 2016

  1. Login to your GC ILL account.
  1. Click on View > Request History on the left, which will give you all your finished ILL requests. (OR click on “All Requests” which gives you current requests, as well.)
  1. Highlight the fields from “Transaction Number” to “Status” and drag down to highlight your entire list
  1. Right click to Copy
  1. Open an Excel worksheet
  1. Click on the first cell, then right click to Paste, choosing the second icon (Match Destination Formatting).
  1. Adjust your column widths, save your file, and you’re done!

And, if you have any questions, please contact us at ill@gc.cuny.edu

About the Author

Beth Posner is the Head of Library Resource Sharing at The CUNY Graduate Center Library.