The Effects of Targeted Instruction and Other Interventions on the Interlibrary Loan Use Patterns of Historians and Their Students

Abstract

Prior to this study, the Access Services Librarian systematically improved interlibrary loan (ILL) and related services offered by the R. Barbara Gitenstein Library of The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). She and her staff reviewed and revised workflows even as the Humanities Librarian focused on instructional efforts to further drive ILL use. Patrons’ confidence in ILL expanded. Requests for non-returnables, primarily journal articles and book chapters delivered electronically and within twenty-four hours, increased significantly. Returnables now arrive on average within six business days, more than double the speed previously achieved. Despite vastly improved turnaround times for all material types and efforts to boost users’ awareness of those improvements, faculty members affiliated with the History Department whose students rely on printed monographs told us that they remained reluctant to initiate ILL requests. Moving beyond anecdote, the Humanities and Access Services Librarians surveyed TCNJ historians and their capstone students on attitudes toward and use of ILL. Survey results are cross-referenced with ILL use statistics to aggregate reality versus perception among study participants. Changes in target patrons’ use of, confidence in, and feelings about TCNJ ILL over time are described.