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Lending Information

The vast resources of the Detroit Public Library are available both nationally and internationally through the interlibrary loan services of participating libraries. The decision to lend material is based on the physical condition and rarity of, and local demand for, the item.

Policies:

We accept requests online, by US Mail, fax ((313)-833-5333), and by e-mail (ill@detroit.lib.mi.us). The loan period is 21 days, with an additional 14 day renewal if needed.

Fees:

Loans

• Free to all Michigan libraries
• Non-Michigan and Canadian libraries are charged $5.00 (this includes up to 4 microfilm reels or 5 volumes)
• International libraries are charged $10.00

Photocopies

• 2.00 handling plus .20 per page
• Rush faxing is $4.00 handling plus .40 per page
• Microfiche copies are free to all non-profit Michigan libraries. All other libraries are charged $2.00 handling plus $1.50 per fiche
  
  Billing:

IFM or invoiced with material. Prepayment is not required and is discouraged in most cases.

Non-circulating:

Much of DPL's holdings is reference, and the decision to loan is made on a case by case basis. When reference material is loaned it is strictly for Library Use Only.

Material not available for loan includes:

• Genealogy material and family histories from the Burton Historical Collection, items from the E. Azalia Hackley Collection or items from the National Automotive Historical Collection.
• Rare books
• Patents -- patent, trademark and copyright information can be requested directly from the Business, Science and Technology Department.
• Audio-visual materials, including videos, DVDs, books-on-tape, and music CDs

Periodicals/Newspapers:

We lend microfilm and some bound periodicals (decided on a case by case basis). We loan Detroit Free Press and Detroit News microfilm after 1873, however both newspapers cannot be requested concurrently for the same dates. A maximum of 4 reels is allowed.