STUDENT: Excuse me. Who do I talk to about some books I’m trying to check out?
LIBRARIAN: I’m happy to help you with that. Do you have the books with you?
STUDENT: Well, no. I have a bit of a situation, you might say. You see, I need three books for my psychology course, but they are all checked out.
LIBRARIAN: All right. Let’s see what we can do about that. What class is this for?
STUDENT: Psychology 204...with Professor Leeds.
LIBRARIAN: OK... Yes, I see here that there are three required texts that he’s put on reserve for students.
STUDENT: Right. But when I tried to look them up in the computer system this morning, it said that none of the three books were available.
LIBRARIAN: Hmm... There are only five copies of each book at this library, so my guess is that other students beat you to it.
STUDENT: Fair enough, but how long do I have to wait for them? If I don’t start my reading soon, I’m going to fall behind.
LIBRARIAN: It’s hard to say, but it looks like two of the books are due to be returned in ten days, and the third book is due back in two weeks.
STUDENT: Wait, how long for that last one?
LIBRARIAN: Um, two weeks.
STUDENT: And nobody else has put their names in for them?
LIBRARIAN: That’s not, uh, not how it works. Once the books are returned, it’s first come, first serve. However, if you give me your name and phone number, I can definitely call you once they are re-entered into our computer system. Then you can put them on hold, and you’ll have 12 hours to collect them before they’re put back into circuit.
STUDENT: Are there any other options? I feel like if I wait that long, I won’t be able to catch up. And to be honest, I really do need a good grade in this course.
LIBRARIAN: There is another library in town. It’s a, a public library, but as a student living here you have access to it.
STUDENT: But the books I need are academic texts. Do you really think they’ll have them?
LIBRARIAN: Probably not, but it doesn’t hurt to try. We could also check to see if any of our affiliate university libraries carry those texts. It’s likely they do. And if so, we can request an inter-library loan.
STUDENT: That sounds promising. How long’s that process?
LIBRARIAN: Oh, maybe three or four days for the books to arrive. That’s if they have them, of course.
STUDENT: Yes, yes. I’d like to try that route if possible. So...what do I have to do?
LIBRARIAN: I need to take down your information...you know, your student ID, name, the book titles...and then I’ll submit a search request to a few different libraries.
STUDENT: Uh-huh.
LIBRARIAN: As soon as I receive a positive response, we’ll officially put in a loan request and then it’s a matter of time for the appropriate approval, and for the books to arrive.
STUDENT: Is there a fee for this service?
LIBRARIAN: No, it’s free. You are an enrolled student, after all. But I should warn you that if you don’t bring the books back on time, there are quite heavy fees. Our university charges the regular late fee of £3 per day, and then there are the fees of the lending university. They can range anywhere from £2 to £5 per day.
STUDENT: OK.
LIBRARIAN: And remember that just because we request books doesn’t mean we’ll get them. There could be students on waiting lists at those schools, and they would get first priority.
STUDENT: I understand. Well, it’s worth a shot. The only thing is...I don’t have my student ID card on me right now. Could I ring it in this afternoon?
LIBRARIAN: Certainly. Just write down the other details and I’ll leave the request form by the phone. That way, whoever calls will know what to do.
STUDENT: Great. Thanks so much.