Welcome to SWIFT

SWIFT, formerly known as Statewide Interlibrary Loan Fast Track, is a statewide interlibrary loan (ILL) service for libraries, allowing patrons to search and place requests for materials located in member libraries throughout the state of Colorado. The service was originally launched using the OCLC VDX software in 2000 but as of January 1, 2021, the service has migrated to Innovative Interface’s INN-Reach software, joining the Prospector service of the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries.  The SWIFT/Prospector merger will include close to 200 Colorado libraries, comprised of academic, public, correctional, and special libraries. 

State Statute:

SWIFT was first brought to Colorado through state statute and is part of Colorado Library Law:  Part 3: 24-90-302  Colorado Virtual Library – creation – components – access.

The library (CVL) shall have the following components:…

(a) A connection to the online-catalogs of the holdings of Colorado libraries;…

(e)  An interlibrary loan system facilitating resource sharing throughout Colorado;…

Download a copy of the full Library Law through this link.

Colorado Interlibrary Loan Landscape:

The Colorado ILL landscape is made up of many parts and many types of libraries. There are 114 public libraries/library systems, 1443 school libraries, 39 academic libraries, 39 special libraries, and 30 correctional libraries.

• Academic libraries serve colleges and universities within Colorado, including 13 community colleges.
• Correctional libraries serve facilities like prisons, jails, and detention centers that provide library services for the incarcerated. Correctional facilities can be within State or Federal jurisdiction.
• Public libraries serve cities, towns, and counties of all types.
• School libraries serve students and educators from kindergarten to grade 12.
• Special libraries are in specialized environments, such as hospitals, corporations, museums, the military, private business, and the government. We include law and medical libraries of higher learning institutions in this group.

Unlike most states, the public library and schools systems in Colorado grew out of an intentional commitment to local control. So, unlike many of our sister states, local control in Colorado is not a matter of personal political views, national trends or public opinion; it is a matter of state constitutional law. This strongly influences so many of the decisions that are made at the State level, and has encouraged the State Library and our library partners to find creative and productive collaborations that enable the library community to support each other and share resources to the farthest corners of the State. The SWIFT/Prospector merger is one of those collaborations. To learn more about other collaborations and services, click visit our extend your reach page.

Libraries Participating in SWIFT/Prospector:

The map above illustrates the Colorado ILL landscape, and plots SWIFT participating public libraries/library systems with red pins, academic libraries with blue pins, special libraries with tan pins, correctional libraries with lavender pins, and non-participating libraries with gray pins, based on their latitude and longitude.