Interlibrary Loan

We are happy to help you find items that may not be in our own library collections.

Families may borrow up to 4 items per month before incurring postage fees.

You may either ask a librarian to find something for you, OR you can make your own account on the website we use and we will make sure your item gets to you.

You will need to already have a library card in order to make an Interlibrary Loan Account on the website.

Create Your Own Interlibary Loan Account

  1. Go to https://ill2.silo.lib.ia.us
  2. Click on the Sign Up For An Account link.
  3. Complete the signup form:
    • Username: must be a personal username associated with an individual.
    • Password: must be at least 8 characters and must be made up of uppercase letters, lowercase letters and numbers.
    • Email: must be an individual email address.
    • First name: should be a personal first name associated with an individual.
    • Last name: should be a personal last name associated with an individual.
    • Home library: select the library with which you are affiliated.
      • For a patron account, it is the library you support with property taxes.
      • If you are not sure, select the library closest to where you live. This can be changed later.
    • Library card number (optional): Enter the library card number for your home library.
      • ALTHOUGH THIS IS OPTIONAL, IT REALLY HELPS US! Please call if you don't know your current library card number.
  4. Click on the Sign Up button.

Confirm your email address

An email message will be sent to the address you entered into the signup form. Click on the link in the message to finalize the signup process. If you do not receive the message within a few minutes, please check the spam folder in your email account. 

Your account will be considered "unverified" until the library director at your library verifies that you are a patron and changes the status to "patron".

Login to the SILO ILL system

After your account has been approved, you can login and use the system:

  1. Go to https://ill2.silo.lib.ia.us
  2. Click the Login link
  3. Enter your username and password
  4. Click the Log in button