Dissertations and Miscellaneous Reports

Please consider the following guidelines when you are requesting a dissertation and/or miscelleneous report through interlibrary loan (ILL):

You may check for a dissertation's abstract and/or approximately the first 24 pages (if available), at no cost, via the Digital Dissertations database to determine whether you want to proceed with requesting the full dissertation. Dissertations may also be available, at no cost, directly from an institution's Web site, or from Web sites such as the Digital Library of ETDs (Electronic Theses and Dissertations).

We can try to obtain dissertations via interlibrary loan, although many institutions do not loan their dissertations.

If we are not able to obtain the dissertation via ILL, we can purchase it from a commercial provider such as UMI, if available; prices vary -- the average cost for a dissertation is $25-32. Document Delivery staff will research the cost of the document and will inform you of the cost, and will confirm whether or not you are still interested in obtaining the dissertation. The Libraries will cover the cost of the document up to $35. You will be expected to pay the additional amount over $35.

It may not be possible for us to obtain dissertations unavailable through UMI or interlibrary loan. Foreign dissertations are particularly difficult.

Reports and other documents from organizations are often not available through interlibrary loan, but may be purchased. Document Delivery staff will research the cost of the document and will inform you of the cost, and will confirm whether or not you are still interested in obtaining the document. The Libraries will cover the cost of the document up to $35. You will be expected to pay the additional amount over $35.

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