Presentation
Kelsey provided a short presentation on the elements of inter-library loan policies. This included information on the information that is included in both borrowing ILL policies (for patrons) and lending policies (for other libraries).
Notes
Q: What do you do when you get repeated requests for textbooks:
- Explain that these can be a really challenging material to receive from other libraries.
- If enough students come in and ask for the same item, sometimes the library will purchase a copy and put it on reserve.
Q: Is there a copyright issue with scanning / printing out a book?
- If you wrote the book, you would want to be able to sell it and not have it copied.
- Sometimes will let the patron know that while we can't get the whole book, we could request a selection of the book and provide more in the future if needed.
Q: What systems are people using? ILLiad, Tipasa?
- The prices for ILLiad keep going up every year. It also has to be self-hosted, so there are costs for the server and the software.
- Patrons love the integration capabilities of it. However, the costs are becoming an issue.
- Tipasa seems to cost around the same, though without hosting fees.
- Does Tipasa have the same capabilities as ILLiad?
- The turnaround through ILLiad is really quick. Sometimes students will get articles back in around 1-4 hours.
ILL takes forever ! This can be a really hard thing to explain to patrons.
Q: What does everyone use to send out their physical materials? Do you use a courier?
- The public library systems in our region both have their own courier services. These exchange materials at libraries within the system.They also meet up regularly to exchange materials between library the two public library systems. Both systems also participate in Empire Library Delivery (ELD).
- For anything else, items are sent through the postal service.
- One library mentioned for media (CDs, DVDs, etc.) they will mail via FedEx or UPS to ensure the safety of the items. This is an extra cost that is not passed onto the library patron.
- One library mentioned if a lender specifically requested an item be sent back by FedEx, the cost would probably need to be passed to the patron.
- For international libraries, let the patron know you can get it but they would have to pay for any shipping costs. They usually say no.
- International shipping is prohibitively expensive these days. You have to pay insurance on the items. The US customs form can also be difficult to navigate.
Q: How do you market ILL services at your library:
- A lot of patrons don’t know that we have this capability.
- Sometimes keep ILL services quiet to keep the volume at a manageable level.
- There aren’t a ton of requests of items outside of system holds or SEAL. The item would need to be pretty obscure.
- Larger public libraries tend to have much higher levels of ILLs.
Q: Do you have a minimum of how many ILL requests you loan out at a time?
- (College library): some students will request 10-15 articles at a time. This typically will trigger a phone call from a librarian who offers to help out with research.
- Students don’t always understand how ILL works through the discovery catalog.
- Limits are hard for faculty!
Q: Does anybody keep track of the condition of items coming in / going out?
- Have had some issues with items being borrowed and coming back with highlighter marks or pencil.
- Patrons will never admit that they did it!
- One library has created an internal form that gets attached to the slip for outgoing / incoming books. It lists the condition of the book. This makes it clearer when patrons have done something to the book.
- One library takes pictures of books that come in with damage so they can remember the condition when the item is returned.
- Some issues recently with ELD and materials getting damaged. Books were getting water damage.
Q: Do you all have policies on your website?
- Have a very basic policy – needs to be updated.
- Sometimes if something is called a policy it has to go through a rigorous review and approval by a board.
- You can frame these as guidelines / procedures instead.
Suggested resources:
- ILL-L list serv through OCLC. It includes upcoming events and helpful ILL information. You can also place requests through it!
- FB ILLers is another good resource for updates on ILL.
- Scribe can be good for providing tutorials of library workflows. If you record your screen, it will automatically provide written instructions to go with your actions.
Q: What are some ways you bring in joy / fun to your work?
- Had a map of the world, and for each request would put in a pin to signify where it would came from.
- Collect thank you notes from borrowing libraries.
- Turn rubber bands into a ball and mail it back every year!
Our next meeting will be October (date TDB). It will be held at the Town of Ulster Library in Kingston.