Interlibrary Loan

Managed by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, the statewide interlibrary loan (ILL) program assists Texas public libraries in meeting the accreditation criteria to offer to borrow and lend materials with other Texas public libraries. ILL services enable library users across the state to access materials not available at their local library, and no library can own every item.

New Interlibrary Loan System Coming Soon!

OCLC will be retiring Navigator/NRE, the current interlibrary loan system used by Texas public libraries, from its offered products in August 2024. TSLAC will continue to contract for the system and associated services through that date.

An Request for Offer (RFO) for a new ILL system is open for vendor responses at his time and will close May 19, 2023. The responses will be evaluated and a vendor selected this summer. Libraries will migrate over the next fiscal year with assistance and training from the vendor and TSLAC staff.

To stay updated, please subscribe to the ILL mailing list here: Navigator-ILL Info Page (state.tx.us)

Texas Library Association Conference 2023

Slides from the ILL Presentation are available here.

Texas Group Catalog and Navigator

Accredited Texas public libraries use OCLC's Navigator system to monitor and manage statewide interlibrary loan requests locally. In addition to the Navigator library staff portal, the Texas Group Catalog allows Texas library patrons and staff to discover materials in Texas libraries, and libraries worldwide, that may not be available locally. There are over 550 Texas libraries live on the Navigator system and available to share resources through interlibrary loan.

Navigator Resources for Libraries

Navigator Training Materials

Recorded Navigator Training Tutorials for Staff
- Overview of Texas WorldCat Navigator Group (26 minutes)
- Submitting Requests in WorldCat Navigator (26 minutes)
- Definition of Work Queue Categories (20 minutes)
- Borrower Request Processing in WorldCat Navigator (18 minutes)
- Lender Request Processing in WorldCat Navigator (16 minutes)
- Request Search Demo & Exercises in WorldCat Navigator
- Borrower Exceptions Processing in WorldCat Navigator
- Lender Exceptions Processing in WorldCat Navigator
OCLC Navigator Training videos on YouTube
Navigator Quick Reference Print Guides
Checklist for creating a WorldCat data sync collection for updating records (Texas libraries)
Data Sync Collections Webinar recording (1 hr 16 min 24 sec) *No password required
Data Sync Collections Webinar Slides

Resource Sharing News and Updates

Interlibrary Loan Lending Reimbursement Program

The annual ILL Lending Reimbursement Program reimburses eligible Navigator and academic libraries a flat rate for each lend made to Texas public libraries using the OCLC Navigator system. The FY 2023 program, covering lends made between August 1, 2022- July 31, 2023, will be open in our Grant Management System on April 26, 2023. More information is available here: FY 2023 ILL Lending Reimbursement Program | TSLAC (texas.gov)

Register for a program overview webinar on April 26, 2023, 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3005408812027858526

Please contact Sara Hayes at shayes@tsl.texas.gov with any questions.

Contact Information

If you have further questions, please contact Sara Hayes, Interlibrary Loan Program Coordinator, at 512-463-5406 or by email at shayes@tsl.texas.gov.

Request an Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary Loan services are available for registered customers of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Requests may be made from the Texas Group Catalog. Detailed instructions can be found here. If you have any questions, please contact the Information Services staff at the Reference Desk or by telephone at 512-463-5455.

This program is administered by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) and funded by the federal Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).