Methods Of Financing Interlibrary Loan Services

Guidance on how to do ILL efficiently and effectively, with advice on being a considerate borrower and lender.

Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery is a how-to guide to organizing an interlibrary loan department, providing extensive content on copyright law, ILL management systems, and human resources. This comprehensive book includes an introduction to ILL operations, governing policies, up-to-date information on borrowing and lending, and considerations for medicals libraries and distance learning. It also includes an extensive listing of resources relevant to today's ILL that serves as a handy desk reference when problem solving and investigating ways to improve service delivery.

A dramatic increase in interlibrary loan (ILL) in academic and research libraries in the last five years, combined with a changing office environment, is forcing reassessment of the relationship between the volume and cost of loans to service quality. In the spring of 1988, a survey was sent to 116 member libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) to gather data about workload, professional and non-professional staffing levels, use of bibliographic utilities, fillrates, and perceptions about staffing adequacy. This report uses the 76 responses received to present an overview of ILL staffing patterns, test assumptions about workloads and fillrates, and suggest some guidelines for libraries to follow in the analysis of their own efficiency and effectiveness. In conclusion, it is suggested that the importance of professionals in ILL may be underestimated, and that increasing ILL activity may be causing a reduction in the quality of service in borrowing operations. Six tables highlight survey responses. Appended are a copy of the survey and cover letter; a self-analysis workform showing median productivity levels for libraries found to be effective and efficient in ILL operations; and linear and quadratic correlations and a chart for monthly analysis of unfills. (11 references) (NRP)