Use interlibrary loan (ILL) to request items that are not owned by Hennepin County Library.
If Hennepin County Library does not own an item, you can use MNLINK to search for and request it from academic and public libraries throughout Minnesota. If you can't find the item in MNLINK, Ask Us for assistance.
The loan period for an interlibrary loan is three weeks. Interlibrary loans cannot be renewed.
You can have up to 10 active interlibrary loan requests per patron. Requests are active from the time they are placed until the item has been returned to a Hennepin County Library and checked in by the Interlibrary Loan department.
Lending libraries may decline to lend any item and may limit the number of times they will send an item (see format availability below). Items previously borrowed through interlibrary loan may not be available again.
Most requests are filled in two to three weeks. Some take longer due to demand for the item, how widely it is held, and delivery schedules. You will be notified by email or phone when the item is ready for to pick up.
There's no charge for interlibrary loan service, except for some microfilm requests that require pre-paid fees.
You can cancel a request directly in MNLINK (My Account) or you can Ask Us by phone, email, text, or in person.
A request for a magazine article is usually filled with a photocopy or scan of the article, which may be mailed or emailed to you. You may keep these photocopies.
You can also request MEDD (Minitex Electronic Document Delivery) delivery of an article. The article is scanned and you are sent instructions for retrieving the document and downloading.
Items on microfilm, especially newspapers, may be requested. Microfilm is only for in-library use at one of the libraries that has microform readers/printers: Brookdale, Minneapolis Central, Ridgedale, or Southdale.
Some historical societies require pre-payment for loans.