As hard as it is to hear, you can plan on a lot of work in college. This includes a lot of reading, papers, group projects and research. Occasionally, you will be juggling all of these responsibilities at the same time. But don’t worry. Here is a tip that can help you find the best research and will effectively help you get the best grades: InterLibrary Loan.
Yup, so I’m totally gonna geek out here. I have worked at Naz’s ILL office since my sophomore year. I have used ILLiad quite frequently over the past four years. This system allows you to send out a request for a book, a book chapter, an academic article, or other forms of media. If you need a PDF of an article/chapter, you will usually receive it via email within 48 hours. If you are waiting for a book or movie to be shipped to the library, it will most likely arrive within a week or two. So if your college’s library does not have a lot of what you are looking for, you can request it from another university. And this process is usually free for students. An ILLiad account is something every freshman should have within their first month of college.
And I know, talking about libraries and research isn’t super exciting. But you can get much more than just research from ILL. You can get a novel you want to read but don’t want to pay for. You can get a movie or a season of a TV show. You can get a CD or sheet music. ILL can be used for entertainment, as well as scholarly pursuits. The only caveat is that you can only use it for entertainment sparingly. Don’t request a CD to upload to your computer every single week. That’s just rude. And it’s obvious you are taking advantage of a great resource. But if there is a movie you really want to see, and you can’t find it anywhere else, put in a request.
Without this service, I would not have been able to see A Better Life, a moving film about family and immigration. More importantly, I would not have great research or writing skills without ILL. You should all use this resource to your advantage and sign up for an ILLiad account during your first week at college!
Written by Rachel Montpelier. Rachel is a senior at Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y. and is the editorial assistant at NextStepU.
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