Suggest a Purchase & Interlibrary Loan FAQs

  • Interlibrary Loan

    To request an interlibrary loan, you will need to create a separate account in the interlibrary loan portal. You can watch an orientation video or read more on our Suggest a Purchase & Interlibrary Loan page.

    You can request older books, journal articles, DVDs, audiobooks on CD, music CDs, and microfilm through interlibrary loan. Microfilm reels are for in-library use.

    The loan period for interlibrary loan materials is set by the lending library and ranges from 1-3 weeks. Materials cannot be renewed.

    You may have up to 5 active interlibrary loan requests at a time.

    For more FAQs, please visit the interlibrary loan portal.

  • Suggest a Purchase

    You can use the suggest  a purchase feature to request that the library purchase already published books, large print books, DVDs, CD audiobooks, and graphic novels.

    To suggest a purchase, log into your online library account using the login button in the upper righthand corner of the screen. From the sidebar on the My Dashboard or My Settings pages, you can Suggest a Purchase. 

    You can make up to 10 suggestions each month.

    Use the “Notify Me” smart tag in Libby to express interest in titles not currently in the collection. When you tag a title with “Notify Me,” your interest in the title is shared with Sno-Isle Libraries and any of your other saved libraries. If the title is purchased, you will receive a notification and have the option to borrow or place the title on hold. 

    For step-by-step instructions, see Finding and tagging titles not offered by your library 

    You can view the status of your suggestion by logging into your library account, heading to My Library Dashboard, and selecting Suggested this Month on the left side of your screen. Your suggestions will be Under Review while staff are evaluating them and will move to either Approved or Not Approved after a decision has been made. If items are approved, they should be in the catalog within a month of your suggestion.

    Use the Author Alerts service to be alerted automatically when new items are added to the collection.

    I'm a local author.

    Sno-Isle Libraries welcomes additions to our Local Authors collection in our physical collection.

    A local author is a person who lives in the library district's service area (Snohomish and Island Counties) or who has ties to the area that are evident in their work.  

     If you would like to be added to the Local Authors collection, and you meet the eligibility requirements, you may donate one or two copies at your community library or mail them to the Sno-Isle Libraries Service Center. Our librarians will review the material and determine if it can be added to the Local Authors collection. Donated copies will not be returned. 

    Sno-Isle Libraries
    Attn: Collection Services
    7312 35th Ave. NE
    Marysville, WA 98271

    Sno-Isle Libraries also collects local author materials in ebook format. If your title is available in Smashwords or Kobo Writing Life, Sno-Isle Libraries is able to purchase these items through Overdrive. Email us to make a purchase suggestion. 

    Are you an author who would like to see your work in our collection? 

    Librarians in the Collection Services Department make purchasing decisions, guided by selection criteria from the Collection Development Policy.

    If you are a Sno-Isle Library Cardholder, use our Suggest a Purchase service and you will get a response from us. 

    If you don’t have a card, you can email us. Submit your purchase suggestion and include the following information. You will receive confirmation that your suggestion is being considered. 

    •  General information about your book (title, author, ISBN, publisher, date of publication, price, intended audience) 
    • A link to your book's website and links to reviews or other media coverage (we rely on reviews for much of our selection decisions) 

    You may also submit promotional materials or a copy of your work at your community library or the Service Center. Due to the volume of materials received, we are unable to return sample copies of works that are not solicited by our staff.