EBook Interlibrary Loan in American Public Libraries

In recent years, eBook collections have been increasing at a slow but steady rate in both public and academic libraries. With the increasing eBook collections in libraries and the advancements made in information discovering services, users can now discover materials existing outside of their local library more easily. EBooks also offer the potential for quick interlibrary loan delivery. Ironically, eBook interlibrary loan has not become prevalent in libraries. Many studies have been done to explore eBook licensing and interlibrary loan in academic libraries and to offer practical solutions for eBook interlibrary lending. Few studies have been done in public libraries. This study explores the current practice of eBook interlibrary loan activities in American public libraries. Survey questionnaires were distributed to 118 randomly selected public libraries. Questions focused on current eBook interlibrary loan best practices, issues, and obstacles in American public libraries. Findings from this study indicate eBook ILL is not a priority for the surveyed public libraries, and the adoption rate of eBook ILL in public libraries is much lower than that in academic libraries.     

Streamlining Document Delivery and Interlibrary Loan Services for Distance Learners

Abstract

Technological advances in the processing of interlibrary loans have enabled libraries to deliver materials electronically to users. Delivery is especially beneficial for distance education students for whom typical interlibrary loan services are often not a viable option. The author conducted a survey of libraries that serve distance education students to determine which systems and processes, used in traditional interlibrary loan, are transferable to the delivery of materials from the “home” institution to off-campus students. To complement the survey, the results of a case study of experiences at Western Michigan University (WMU) are presented. WMU uses ILLiad and SFX systems to facilitate the request and delivery of interlibrary loan and document delivery requests to students both on and off-campus students.     

Interlibrary Loan Options With Digital Equipment

Technology has changed over time for interlibrary loan; digital equipment now gives opportunities to deliver requests without damaging rare or fragile materials. Examples of the equipment are cameras, flat bed scanners, form feed scanners, iPhones, iPads, handheld scanning wands, microreel scanners, and microfiche scanners. In this article, we will take a look at uses for copying rare books and uses of digital equipment to fill interlibrary loan requests.     

Impact of DOCLINE on interlibrary loan service at the National Library of Medicine

In March 1985, the National Library of Medicine (NLM) began implementation of DOCLINE, its automated interlibrary loan request routing and referral system. By the end of fiscal year (FY) 1987, over 1,400 biomedical libraries in all seven regions of the Regional Medical Library network were using the system. This report summarizes the findings of an analysis of the interlibrary loan (ILL) requests received in FY 1987, comparing the results with a similar analysis done in FY 1984 to describe any changes in the requests or service which might be attributable to DOCLINE implementation. DOCLINE has had a substantial impact upon ILL loan service at NLM. An increase in the number of ILL requests (35% over FY 1984) can be attributed to the speed and ease with which requests may be routed to NLM through DOCLINE. Requests which cannot be filled by local or regional libraries are automatically routed by the system to NLM as the library of last resort. NLM's fill rate for serial requests has declined, however, from 78% filled in FY 1984 to 67% filled in FY 1987. Some of the decline results from the 11,000 requests that NLM did not fill because the borrowing libraries were not willing to pay the NLM charge for filling the loans.     

Always Yes,Never No

ABSTRACT

The “difficult” requests submitted by the research library users prove document delivery vendors could hardly replace interlibrary loan librarians. “Difficult” requests ask for the “grey literature” not traded commercially and not kept in libraries. They require the special attention and professional knowledge of the interlibrary loan librarian. Besides usual bibliographic and reference tools, the Internet, e-mail, and the search engines have to be employed to solve them. The help of those responsible for the production of the literature in question is significant. In tackling “difficult” requests, interlibrary loan librarians may further add value to their services by facilitating sharing between scholars or researchers. Five actual cases are presented to illustrate how the “difficult” requests were tackled and solved.     

Collaborative Approaches to Resolving Difficult ILL Borrowing Requests: Using a Working Group and a Wiki for Knowledge Sharing

Interlibrary loan borrowing staff at the University of Arizona Main Library, who handle difficult interlibrary loan requests, are taking a collaborative approach to obtaining unique, difficult-to-locate materials. A working group within the document delivery team meets weekly to share examples processed during the preceding week to increase the fill rate of challenging interlibrary loan requests. The group also established a wiki for the purpose of sharing resources that have been used to solve difficult requests. The wiki serves as an advanced interlibrary loan training resource that can be accessed by a greater number of staff, enabling them to gain the skills necessary to process difficult requests.     

A national survey of UK health libraries investigating the cost of interlibrary loan services and assessing the accessibility to key orthopaedic journals

Background: NHS Library Services are utilised by NHS staff and junior trainees to locate scientific papers that provide them with the evidence base required for modern medical practice. The cost of accessing articles can be considerable particularly for junior trainees. Objectives: This survey looks at variations in cost of journal article loans and investigates access to particular orthopaedic journals across the country. Methods: A national survey of UK Health Libraries was performed. Access to and costs of journals and interlibrary loan services were assessed. Availability of five wide‐reaching orthopaedic journals was investigated. Results: Seven hundred and ten libraries were identified. One hundred and ten libraries completed the questionnaire (16.7%). Of these, 96.2% reported free access to scientific journals for users. 99.1% of libraries used interlibrary loan services with 38.2% passing costs on to the user at an average of £2.99 per article. 72.7% of libraries supported orthopaedic services. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (British) had greatest onsite availability. Conclusions: The study demonstrates fluctuations in cost of access to interlibrary loan services and variation in access to important orthopaedic journals. It provides a reflection of current policy of charging for the acquisition of medical evidence by libraries in the UK.     

School Library Participation in Regional Multitype Networks:

The results of the first two years of a pilot project in the Rochester, New York area provide new data on school library participation as full partners in multitype cooperative activities. Research findings demonstrate that school libraries hold unique materials, are able to fill many of the interlibrary loan requests of other libraries and utilize their computer terminals to enhance cornmunication between libraries. Additional sources of current information in the area of multitype library cooperation are also described.     

Just-In-Time: A Case Study of Buying Instead of Borrowing at the University of North Texas Libraries, 2014–2017

There is a trend among academic libraries to increase collaboration between interlibrary loan and collection development to improve patron access to materials and build library collections. Instead of borrowing returnable materials, interlibrary loan may initiate purchases that will become part of the library's collection. This can mean anything from an organizational change combining interlibrary loan with the acquisitions unit or creating new workflows to facilitate purchasing. At the University of North Texas Libraries, the Interlibrary Loan office is a unit of the Access Services Department. Buying instead of borrowing for the ILL unit began with a Demand Driven Acquisitions (DDA) program and has expanded with the establishment of the University of North Texas Libraries' access-based collection development policy. Interlibrary Loan provides “Just-In-Time” (JIT) access to materials not available through regular interlibrary loan sources and adds relevant materials to the Libraries' collections.     

Self-Service Interlibrary Loan

Abstract

Technology is rapidly moving libraries toward a self-service interlibrary loan model. Patrons currently request books and articles through OCLC's unmediated ILL Direct Request service, and interlibrary loan management software enables users to request, track, and renew borrowed materials unassisted online. In addition, products such as SFX and Serials Solutions further expand unmediated requesting. Peer-to-peer resource sharing defined by the ISO ILL Protocol and direct consortial borrowing, which has become possible following the recently approved NCIP standard, encourage and support the widespread development of self-service interlibrary loan. As borrowing from other collections becomes an almost effortless process for library users, reference librarians must find ways to encourage patron use of local collections, as well as familiarize themselves with the mechanics of unmediated interlibrary loan to better assist patrons in their use of evolving interlibrary loan technology.     

Document Delivery at a Veterinary Medical Library

The purpose of this study is to assess the use of document delivery services provided for primary clientele of the Veterinary Medical Library at Auburn University. This study describes and quantifies external library use patterns of the College of Veterinary Medicine faculty, staff and students, for a twelve-month period, though an analysis of the library's courier and interlibrary loan services. Three hypotheses are tested: (1) the majority of courier and interlibrary loan requests are for serials; (2) most serial requests are for nonveterinary journals; and (3) the demand for interlibrary loan and courier services follows a non-random pattern of distribution, i.e., the numbers of requests per month are unequal. The first two hypotheses are confirmed. Of the 2,376 requests for library materials external to VML, 2,197 (92%) are for serials; of the serials requests 1,608 (73%) are for nonveterinary journals. The third hypothesis is also confirmed. The chi square predicates a nonrandom distribution of requests by month. This study defines the nature of veterinary research as interdisciplinary. Findings identify collection weaknesses and requirements for new acquisitions.     

Interlibrary Loan—Reference Collaboration: Filling Hard-to-Find Faculty Requests

We have implemented a successful in-house outsourcing program between University of Oregon Library departments. Collaboration between interlibrary loan staff and subject specialists appropriates ILLiad e-mail routing capabilities to enable subject specialists to join the workflow in processing difficult ILL requests. The goals of the program are to fill more requests, fill requests more quickly, give subject specialists the opportunity to learn more about their faculty members’ research needs, and to create a stepping stone to a purchase-on-demand program.     

Helping patrons find locally held electronic resources: An interlibrary loan perspective

The University of North Texas Libraries provide extensive online access to academic journals through major vendor databases. As illustrated by interlibrary loan borrowing requests for items held in our databases, patrons often have difficulty navigating the available resources. In this study, the Interlibrary Loan staff used data gathered from the ILLiad interlibrary loan management system to investigate why patrons request locally available materials. This study resulted in recommendations for the Libraries' linking strategies in EBSCOhost databases. Several user education needs were identified and communicated to the Libraries' Subject Liaisons.     

Google Scholar Usage: An Academic Library's Experience

Google Scholar is a free service that provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly works and to connect patrons with the resources libraries provide. The researchers in this study analyzed Google Scholar usage data from 2006 for three library tools at San Francisco State University: SFX link resolver, Web Access Management proxy server, and ILLiad interlibrary loan server. Overall, the data suggested that Google Scholar had become a very useful resource in the library and was a significant addition to the library's collection of research databases. SFX data revealed requests from Google Scholar grew ten-fold from 2006 to 2011, and that Google Scholar became the top-ranked SFX source for requests in 2011. Library patrons favored Google Scholar over San Francisco State University's federated search tool, MetaLib, and it has become an important source for interlibrary loan requests. Analysis of San Francisco State University usage data will assist other libraries in their decisions about the implementation of Google Scholar.     

User satisfaction survey and usage of an electronic desktop document delivery service at an academic medical library

In June 2000, the Biomedical Library at the University of South Alabama introduced Prospero, an electronic desktop document delivery service. From June 2000 to November 2002, Prospero delivered 28% of interlibrary loan requests and 72% of document delivery requests. In November 2002, the library conducted a user satisfaction survey of the Prospero service. Forty-two surveys were used. Fifteen responses were received from affiliated faculty, staff, and students, who generally expressed satisfaction with the service. Twenty-seven responses were received from unaffiliated users, comprised of medical libraries, individual users, and businesses. Based on the survey results, the library deemed the Prospero service a success. To better support users, the library's Web page was updated to include hardware and software requirements for successful use of the Prospero service, as well as screen shots of the Prospero process.     

A comparison of interlibrary loan requests received by the National Library of Medicine: 1959 and 1984

In 1962, an analysis of interlibrary loan requests for serials filled by NLM in 1959 was published. In the twenty-five years following 1959, important changes occurred in the biomedical library community, which had a significant impact on interlibrary loan activities, including the development of MEDLARS and online searching, the Regional Medical Library (RML) network, and union listing for serials. To describe NLM's current interlibrary loan request traffic for serials and to identify any significant changes in traffic between 1959 and 1984, a comparative analysis of 1984 serial loan requests was performed, primarily by manipulation of automated request records. The changes in request traffic strongly suggest that the efforts to strengthen regional document delivery through the RML program have been successful and that NLM's collection is now used primarily as a last resort.     

Service quality: An unobtrusive investigation of interlibrary loan in large public libraries in Canada

The quality of interlibrary loan services was investigated from the dyadic perspective of the library and the library customer. The study paired the use of a valid, reliable measuring instrument, SERVQUAL, with an unobtrusive approach related to 130 contrived interlibrary loan transactions in 38 large public libraries in Canada. Library measures of quality produced a fill rate of 52% and a turnaround time of 38 days. Customer expectations of quality proved higher than their perceptions of the quality of services they had received. Reliability, the dimension of quality ranked most important by customers for evaluating service quality, scored lowest in performance. Overall attitudes about the public library were higher than levels of satisfaction with interlibrary loan services. The study found a mismatch between library measures of interlibrary loan performance, based on fill rate and turnaround time, and customer measures of quality, based on disconfirmation theory.