Transcript Slide 1

Best Practices for Interlibrary Loan
Borrowing and Lending
Prepared for the Delaware Statewide ILL Meeting
June 23, 2009
Megan Gaffney
Coordinator, Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Services
University of Delaware Library
[email protected]
Some Reasons to Consider Best Practices
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Follow state and national guidelines for Interlibrary Loan services
Build good partnerships with other libraries
Provide consistent excellent service to local users and other libraries
Protect materials during shipping and use
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Borrowing Best Practices: Placing Requests
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Verify holdings!
– Use OCLC tools to research potential libraries
• WorldCat.org is accessible by any web browser and is free.
– The lending library’s OPAC will provide holdings and/or call number
information.
– Check for circulation status and other restrictions, like Special
Collections.
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Borrowing Best Practices: Placing Requests,
continued
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Provide a complete citation
– Google is the BFF of ILL! (Jennifer Kuehn, Ohio State University
Libraries)
– Google is also the BFF of ILL’s patrons: many of them are getting their
request citations by Googling, even if those citations are bad ones.
– Collaboration with reference or other librarians is key: use the best tools
available to track down materials.
– If you couldn’t find the article as a lender because the citation is
incomplete, neither can we.
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Borrowing Best Practices: Restrictions
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All materials are subject to recall and must be returned promptly if recalled.
All restrictions, like “library use only” and “no photocopying” must be
followed as stated either in communication prior to the item’s shipment or on
the item’s accompanying paperwork.
If the lender specifies a return shipping method, it must be honored.
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Borrowing Best Practices: Renewals
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Ask for renewals before the due date
– Avoid policy snags: not all libraries will renew once the original due date
has passed.
– Renewal requests are a form of good communication: if a borrower asks
for a renewal promptly and the lender grants it, the lender doesn’t spend
time chasing after overdue materials.
– In requesting an item, borrowers are agreeing to follow *all* the lender’s
restrictions. No renewals means no renewals, and the material must be
returned on time.
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Borrowing Best Practices: Rush Requests
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If a library does not support rush requests, don’t ask.
Sending a request in multiple forms (on OCLC, then by fax to say “please
pay attention to this rush request”) may be more confusing than helpful.
ILL-L listserv is a great way to find a library to help with your rush request,
and only those libraries who can support rush service will chime in to offer
assistance.
Don’t request a rush as a borrower if you would not be able to supply a rush
as a lender.
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Borrowing Best Practices: Communication
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Providing email addresses to lenders is a must, whenever possible
– Articles requested for your patrons will come through faster and at
higher quality through email instead of fax.
– Overdues, recalls, and other status information will be transmitted faster
and more efficiently for both borrower and lender.
– In using the University of Delaware ILL system as a borrower, email
communication will be linked to and visible from your account online –
no need to rely on your inbox for that information.
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Borrowing Best Practices: Who’s
Responsible for Borrowed Material?
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The borrowing library is always responsible from start to finish.
– [A requesting library will] “assume responsibility for borrowed material
from the time it leaves the supplying library until it has been returned to
and received by the supplying library. This includes all material shipped
directly to and/or returned by the user. If damage or loss occurs, provide
compensation or replacement, in accordance with the preference of the
supplying library.” (ALA Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States,
2008)
– Borrowers must pay for lost or damaged material; if not for that request,
the material would be safe and sound in the lender’s library.
– Replacement copies may be acceptable, but must be approved by
someone at the lender’s institution prior to purchasing and sending.
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Borrowing Best Practices: Who’s
Responsible, continued
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Even items lost in the mail must be paid or replaced by the borrowing
library.
Lender may send an item by a trackable service; if the tracking proves that
the material is lost, then they can file a claim with the shipper. Otherwise,
the borrower pays for replacement.
Check the lender’s online catalog and request a shelf check before paying a
replacement bill. Mistakes sometimes happen.
If the user loses or damages an item while checked out, then the borrowing
library may transfer the lender’s fees or replacement purchase
responsibilities to the user, in accordance with local policy and practice.
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Borrowing Best Practices: Care of Materials
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Never apply adhesive material to another library’s item, even if your library
uses labels on its own materials.
Do not repair another library’s material without permission. The lender
might have in-house preservation staff that prefer to repair damaged spines,
ripped or missing pages, etc.
An exception: if a user returns a book wet, dry it off before shipping it back
to the lending library for further care.
When in doubt about another library’s materials, call their ILL staff and ask
how to handle a situation.
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Lending Best Practices: Communication
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When cancelling a request, provide specific reasons for no, following the
standard OCLC reasons whenever possible. See the list of reasons for no
provided by Lyrasis if guidelines are needed.
Don’t over-communicate! Calling a borrower to supply information or to
apologize is not necessary, especially if more lenders are out there – just
say no if you can’t fill the request.
Make due dates and use restrictions clear – doing so is the best way to
ensure that the borrower will abide by them.
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Lending Best Practices: Shipping
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Use appropriate packaging materials and adhesive according to U.S. Postal
Service and UPS guidelines. Copper staples are not recommended;
packing tape is.
Some materials are too large or heavy for padded envelopes and will rip
right through them. Box these items.
Ensure that you have a complete address and an appropriate address for
the shipping method. UPS will not ship to a P.O. box; many libraries invent
a shipping address (“1 Library Lane,” for example) to ensure that UPS
deliveries go smoothly.
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Resource Sharing and Expertise Sharing
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Collaborate with other librarians and staff at your library!
– Reference staff can help with tricky citations.
– Circulation may help keep track of books that are coming and going.
– Preservation can provide expertise on dealing with damaged items.
– Catalogers maintain local records, and OCLC records, if applicable.
– IT staff can help with online webforms, document delivery software, etc.
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Resource Sharing and Expertise Sharing
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Next, collaborate with colleagues at other libraries.
– The ILL community is full of librarians and library staff who help each
other with citation verification, supplying hard-to-find materials, and
sharing technical expertise every day.
– Sometimes a quick email or phone call is the best way to resolve a
problem request or sticky situation.
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Resource Sharing and Expertise Sharing
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Tools to communicate with colleagues and stay current:
– ILL-L listserv - http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/ill-l
– ShareILL wiki - http://www.shareill.org
– OCLC WebJunction Resource Sharing community – “Facebook for ILL
librarians” - http://resourcesharing.webjunction.org/
– ALA RUSA STARS http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/sections/stars/index.cfm
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Future Considerations
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Using ILL software like Clio, OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing, or ILLiad
will help automate processes as borrower and lender.
Consider Odyssey document delivery software, which can be downloaded
and installed for free at http://www.atlas-sys.com/products/odyssey/
– Odyssey Standalone FAQ from Ohio State University https://osu.illiad.oclc.org/illiad/osu/lending/odysseyfaq.html
Buying instead of borrowing is a growing trend in resource sharing, either
through a book vendor on OCLC or through sources like Amazon.com.
Commercial document suppliers like the British Library Document Supply
Centre are useful, particularly for academic libraries.
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Guidelines and Best Practices for
Interlibrary Loan
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ALA Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States, 2008 revision http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/resources/guidelines/interlibrary.cfm
ALA Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States, supplement http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/resources/guidelines/interlibraryloanc
ode.cfm
IFLA International Lending and Document Delivery http://archive.ifla.org/VI/2/p3/ildd.htm
Slides and handouts from RUSA STARS “Everything You Ever Wanted to
Know about ILL” workshop at ALA Midwinter 2009 http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/sections/stars/publications/index.cfm
Boucher, Virginia. Interlibrary Loan Practices Handbook. Chicago:
American Library Association, 1997. Third edition forthcoming.
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Comments or Questions?
Megan Gaffney
Coordinator, Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Services
University of Delaware Library
[email protected]
302-831-6980
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/ill/
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