Loan Staff Research Articles

Community as a Shared Resource: How One Consortium Congregated, Collaborated, and Innovated Its Way through the COVID-19 Crisis

In the spring of 2020, interlibrary loan department librarians and staff members suddenly found themselves working from home as library spaces closed to the public in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. On March 26, 2020, the first online town hall was convened for the resource sharing section of the SHARES consortium. This initial town hall led to regular meetings where resource sharing practitioners could share their stories and learn from one another in an unprecedented time. A small band of volunteers from the SHARES Best Practices group came together to synthesize information presented at these gatherings and to build documentation that would benefit the members of SHARES and the resource sharing community at large. This paper details the background, process and some developments and innovations that came about as a result of these town hall discussions and this valuable collaborative work.

Client Satisfaction in Faith-Based Microfinance: A Comparison with Mainstream Models of Microfinance

The main purpose of this paper is to compare the client satisfaction of faith-based and mainstream microfinance institutions. The level of satisfaction is considered on eight independent factors identified through literature survey and experts’ opinion. The data-set comprised of a total of 300 microfinance clients - 150 from faith-based microfinance institutions and 150 from the mainstream microfinance institutions. The data was collected through a structured questionnaire comprising of agreement disagreement on 5-point Likert scale. Independent sample t-test was employed to determine if any significant difference exists in the satisfaction level of clients in the two models of microfinance. The results indicate that there is no significant difference among the two groups on the variables reasonability of interest rates (p=0.49), loan procedure (p=0.13), technical assistance (p = 0.822), and branch location (p = 0.36). However, there are significant differences in the two groups on the variables clients repayment policy (p=0.0001), timely availability of loan (p=0.0001), non-discrimination (p = 0.0001) and supportive staff (p = 0.005). The mean values suggest that the clients of faith-based microfinance institutions are more satisfied on these variables. The recent reports on microfinance suggest that the mainstream microfinance programs and policies that were developed for delivering the benefits of financial inclusion and poverty alleviation neglected the client perspective. The results of this study should be of significance to policy makers who are considering various alternatives to attain the goals of poverty alleviation stipulated in the Millennium Development Goals. The paper contributes to the limited empirical studies available on client satisfaction as well as the faith-based model of microfinance.

Understanding Bank Runs: Do Depositors Monitor Banks?

We use unique, depositor-level data for a bank that faced a run and was placed in receivership to study whether depositors monitor banks. Depositors with uninsured balances, depositors with loan linkages and staff of the bank are far more likely to withdraw in response to the shock. We are able to contrast depositor behavior to this fundamental shock with an earlier panic at the same bank. Our results suggest that these withdrawals are due in part to the information known to depositors though overall this information appears to be very coarse. Our results provide direct evidence of depositor monitoring and the significance of fragility in a bank’s capital structure, and helps inform banking regulation.

An Annotated Bibliography of 46 Useful Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Monographs Published from 1902–2007

ABSTRACT The Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Department train staff, updates manuals, compiles statistics, trains staff, follows copyright guidelines, and performs other relevant duties. Knowledge of copyright guidelines is an important factor that affects decisions on whether to borrow or purchase. Practices and procedures of other institutions guide decisions about how an interlibrary loan and document delivery department operates on a day-to-day basis. The titles in this annotated bibliography will help to guide interlibrary loan practitioners to texts with information on specific topics. This annotated bibliography lists titles with historical, statistical, practical, and useful information on how to operate and manage the interlibrary loan unit.

Motivating Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Staff in Times of Shrinking Budgets: How to Say Yes with Less

Proven reward and motivational techniques used in the business sector can be applied to motivate library staff particularly in interlibrary loan and document delivery departments. Successful programs use many concepts, including training, autonomy, employee input, communication, and encouragement. A survey of interlibrary loan managers explores how they motivate employees. The article concludes with suggestions, from the business and library worlds, to motivate employees. Suggestions that can be modified to motivate staff in interlibrary loan and document delivery departments.

Outreach, sustainability and leverage in monitored and peer-monitored lending

I study the contract design problem facing microfinance-lending organizations (MFOs) that want to maximize the impact and outreach of their lending activities to a target population of poor borrowers while remaining financially sustainable. Tradeoffs between outreach, sustainability and financial leverage are shaped by the endogenous monitoring and delegation costs that arise within a chain of agency relationships subject to moral hazard between borrowers, loan staff, MFO equity-owners, and outside investors. All else equal, sustainable MFOs that target poorer borrowers must charge higher interest rates, have higher staff costs per dollar loaned, and are less leveraged. Analysis of data for 72 MFOs tends to support the findings.

Loan delinquency in community lending organizations: Case studies of neighborworks organizations

This article reports on qualitative data gathered through interviews conducted in 1996 with key leadership and staff from 13 community lending organizations. Loan servicing and collection procedures within the organizations were examined. Findings suggest that several organizational factors of nonprofit lenders are related to their loan delinquency rates: social networks, business culture, funding sources, composition of the board and loan committees, staff structure, loan intake, and collection tools. The study also finds that the nonprofit sector's institutional environment and its partnership with the private sector in a mutually beneficial process influence the loan delinquency rate. More specifically, active participation of local bankers in NeighborWorks1 loan committees, diverse funding sources (from both the public and private sectors), and a diffusion of business practices through dense social networks are related to NeighborWorks’ loan servicing and collection policy and procedures. These factors in turn influence NeighborWorks’ rehabilitation loan delinquency rates.

GMRLC Negotiations for an Interstate Courier:

In the fall of 1994, the Greater Midwest Research Libraries Consortium (GMRLC) negotiated a contract with Federal Express for expedited delivery of interlibrary loan materials within the consortium. This paper describes the negotiation of the contract for interestate courier services, reviews the implementation process, noting lessons learned, and discusses the effects of the new service on interlibrary loan shipping costs, delivery speed, staff time, policies, and procedures.

Serial cuts and interlibrary loan: filling the gaps

The Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC) Library, which is a member of the Association of Research Libraries with holdings exceeding 2,000,000 volumes and current serial subscriptions numbering more than 14,000, intended to serve a constituency of 25,000 graduate and undergraduate students and 5,000 faculty and staff. Documents how in fiscal year 1990, financial exigency resulted in the cancellation of 1,241 serial titles at the library for a saving of US$233,322.80. Describes how a review of the titles cancelled revealed a high percentage of international subscriptions; thus a major concern of librarians and local scholars was the potential impact that these cancellations might have on the availability of these materials for research. Shows how the SIUC interlibrary loan (ILL) staff has attempted to make the cuts reasonably transparent to the user by tapping traditional and non‐traditional sources to fill the requests produced by these cuts; such that in 1993 ILL made a commitment to integrate document delivery (UnCover, British Library Document Supply Centre, UMI and others) into its standard routines. Assesses the full impact of the cuts four years after the cancellation project. Examines the impact of the 1990 serials cancellations on ILL and the ILL response. Analyses ILL serial requests for the cancelled titles generated during a six‐month period in 1994, looking at availability through document delivery suppliers, cost of acquiring the articles, turnaround times and impact of ILL workload.

How Are Libraries Using QuickDOC? Results of a National Survey of QuickDOC Users

ABSTRACT QuickDOC is a software package that enables Interlibrary Loan (ILL) staff to enter DOCUNE ILL requests offline and upload them quickly to the DOCLINE system. It also enables users to automatically collect a range of statistics and billing information. QuickDOC is designed to be flexible and can be used in a number of different ways. This study aimed to find out how ILL staff, particularly in larger, net lending libraries, are using it and how satisfied they were with it. The study found that QuickDOC is able to function in large ILL operations and measured user satisfaction is measured. The variety of uses is described and possible enhancements are discussed.

Training Opportunities for Interlibrary Loan and Document Supply Staff

UNESCO commissioned the IFLA Program for the Universal Availability of Publications to examine the problems associated with training staffin the field of interlibrary loan and document supply. As part of the study, a survey was conducted of training opportunities offered by library associations and library schools to identify areas that are important for training and those that are actually taught. Wide variation in opportunities emerged even between different countries with advanced library systems. There was also a considerable discrepancy between topics taught and those considered important by practitioners of interlibrary loan. Lack of skills and materials was one of the major problems for trainers, as is the fact that others failed to perceive the importance of this aspect of information work

Transforming concept into practice: How collection development, interlibrary loan, and reference staff utilize the center for research libraries

Transforming concept into practice: How collection development, interlibrary loan, and reference staff utilize the center for research libraries