Interlibrary Loan Borrowing Research Articles

From Paper to Electronic: Migrating from Paper Interlibrary Loan Borrowing Request Forms to Electronic–One Approach

ABSTRACT Doing more with less probably has been one of the major themes in librarianship over the past decade. As library technology continues to evolve, this theme perhaps no longer holds the negative connotation that it once did. Instead it provides librarians with an opportunity to rise to the challenge of meeting increased user needs through improved internal processes and procedures. One example of this is the endeavor to migrate from paper interlibrary loan borrowing request forms to electronic ones. The purpose of this article is to examine one approach to this task.

The impact of electronic journals and aggregate databases on interlibrary loan: a case study at Ball State University Libraries

Reports the results of a series of studies conducted at Ball State University Libraries to examine the impact electronic journals and aggregate databases have on interlibrary loan activities. Borrowing and lending were monitored intermittently over a two‐year period to determine the number of requests that could be filled from available electronic journals or aggregate databases. The findings were not significant enough to justify changing current interlibrary loan procedures for searching requests before ordering. Among several follow‐up studies suggested is a recommendation to investigate whether there might be a correlation between recent decreases in the number of interlibrary loan borrowing and lending requests and the increasing amount of full text information researchers have available online.

ILLiad: Customer-Focused Interlibrary Loan Automation

ABSTRACT ILLiad is an interlibrary loan borrowing system designed and implemented in the University Libraries at Virginia Tech. ILLiad models the ILL borrowing process so as to track the status of an ILL request as it is processed, either by the staff or by software. This process approach to automating interlibrary loan is leading to fundamental improvements in ILL management and service. The process approach allows continued expansion and modification of the system, including the addition of electronic delivery of articles. The process approach results in substantial improvements in customer service by allowing customers to intervene directly in the borrowing process without staff assistance.

Interlibrary Loan Borrowing Policy Comparison

ABSTRACT Librarians charged with the responsibility of developing and revising the ILL policy for their library can draw upon the experiences of others by reading ILL policies of various libraries. After reading other policies and incorporating some of their ideas, librarians can be better prepared for otherwise unforeseen situations. The study reported in this article takes the reading of these policies one step further by evaluating them to discover trends in service. ILL policies of forty-two (42) universities were located on the World Wide Web. Five categories related to the borrowing of materials were analyzed, and from this analysis, conclusions were drawn about current trends in ILL borrowing service. Awareness of these trends can be instrumental in helping librarians shape a successful ILL policy.

Online Catalog Failure as Reflected through InterLibrary Loan Error Requests

Using data obtained through the interlibrary loan process, this study examines why some users failed to find existing entries in the online catalog at The Ohio State University. Approximately 9% (1,369) of the 1988-89 interlibrary loan borrowing requests were returned to the patron because library staff found the items in the local online catalog. These requests represent either a failure of the user to search the system correcty or a failure of the catalog to retrieve the required record. A sample of the borrowing requests was sorted into user errors and catalog errors. Five characterisitics of user errors were exhibited and five categories of catalog failures were identified

The acquisitions allocation formula at Ohio University

The allocations formula at Ohio University has guided the allocation of increased acquisitions funding to academic disciplines since 1979. It is derived from a 50-50 division between supply (the cost of materials within a particular academic area) and demand (circulation, interlibrary loan borrowing, student enrollments, and faculty). The use and rationale for a formula are generally described, accompanied by a history of the development and revision of such a formula at one institution. Highlighting intra-institutional politics, the formula has channeled faculty dissatisfactions away from complaints about the funding level for one discipline vis-à-vis another to a concern for increasing the overall acquisitions budget.