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ASU Online Library Guide

Borrowing and How it Works

In this section, we will review borrowing, requesting, returning and renewing both digital and physical materials. We will also cover the policies for these services.

You can receive ASU Library materials through a few different methods. You can borrow books directly, or place books on hold to have them picked up at one of the ASU campus libraries; if you live outside of Maricopa County, books can be shipped to you.* You can have materials digitally sent to you, too. If ASU does not have the material available, ASU can lend from partner libraries for you through Interlibrary Loan. These can also be physically mailed or sent digitally. We will start with the accounts you will use to manage the materials borrowed and requested, then discuss the process of requesting the materials.

*If you live in Maricopa County, books will not be delivered to you. You will have to arrange to pick it up at one of the ASU campus libraries.

Your Library Accounts

You have accounts with ASU Library that allow you to manage checked out items, item requests, document deliveries, etc.

On the ASU Library Homepage, lib.asu.edu, the black bar at the top has a tab labelled 'Accounts.' This is where you can add access your My Library Account and My ILLiad Account.

My Library Account

My ILLiad Account

  • Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery:
    • PDFs of journal articles & book chapters;
    • Access to materials not available at ASU
  • Policies depends on the library from which your borrowed

Borrowing, Returning, and Requesting Materials

As an online student, you are able to request materials from ASU Library, request from an external library through Interlibrary Loan, or request an article/chapter scan from a physical material that ASU Library owns. To request, use the Library One Search on the Library homepage to locate the material of interest. Once you select the record, there will be a button to Request ASU Copy. Below is an example of where this would be located in the record.
(For materials available through Interlibrary Loan or able to be digitized from ASU Library's collections, you will select Request Options instead of Request ASU Copy).


Image of a book record with Request ASU Copy link circled.


Please review the ASU's Borrowing Loan Policy prior to borrowing any materials.

FOR ALL STUDENTS IN MARICOPA COUNTY: Home delivery is not available. You are required to come to the library and do curbside pick-up. Read more on returning materials to the ASU Campus.


As an ASU student, you may also borrow materials from university libraries that belong to the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA). Visit this list of GWLA member libraries and how to plan your visit.

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Visit the e-Books page to learn more about how to access and use the electronic books, textbooks, and reference books available.

The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.