Borrowing from Other Libraries
If Surrey Libraries does not own a book you want, we may be able to borrow it from a library outside of Surrey for you (Interlibrary Loan).

You can make a request yourself through the ILLUME catalogue, or with library staff. There is no charge unless the lending library charges fees. Please note Interlibrary Loans normally take 4-6 weeks to arrive. If the book is in stock at a Lower Mainland library outside of Surrey, you can visit them directly to borrow their materials. You can return library materials to any Surrey Libraries branch. 

Search ILLUME

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What we can order for you

  • Books published more than 2 years ago (2021 publication dates or older). For new releases, you can suggest a new item for the Surrey Libraries collection.
  • Textbooks (be aware that books from any academic library can only be borrowed for 2 weeks maximum)
  • Articles that are not available in a Surrey Libraries online database

What we cannot order for you

  • Music CDs, Movies or TV series (no A/V materials)
  • Recent publications (books published 2022 or more recently). For new releases, you can suggest a new item for the Surrey Libraries collection

How to Request an Interlibrary Loan through ILLUME

  1. Search our library catalogue to make sure we don't already own the book.
  2. If we don’t own the book, go to ILLUME and search to see if it’s available at another library in the Province.
  3. From the search results, choose the book you want (if you want Large Print, choose the Large Print copy).
  4. Click on "Request this Item" and fill in the form with your information.
  5. If you have any special preferences or notes you'd like to fill in for library staff, write it in the "Special Instructions" box (such as, "I prefer large print but regular print is OK" or "any edition is acceptable")
  6. Click "Submit" to send your request to us.

If you don't find the book you're looking for, please contact us for help.