Agenda Topics
Introductions (name, library, job title, solo librarian/ILL person or no)
What do you love about ILL?
What do you find hard or challenging about ILL?
What topics do you want to Round Table to explore at future meetings?
Introductions (name, library, job title, solo librarian/ILL person or no)
What do you love about ILL?
- Finding hard to find things
- The service overall
- Saving book budget
- Allows them to find the things they need (especially for studying or research) – unusual art books
- Being asked to lend things
- Intellectual freedom
- Being able to provide for their patrons and for patrons at other libraries
- Using ILL as a CD tool
- Love getting mail and deliveries
- Loves the notes section
What do you find hard or challenging about ILL?
- Taping the label into the plastic – hard to get the label out
- Book club books – ticket with AG to be able to edit patron information after it has shipped
- Finding time to really work on it in-depth – trying to make the process more streamlined
- Courier delivery one a week – have had a rash of people using old courier libraries and things for other libraries are being missorted.
- Getting clover requests right after the bin is picked up
- Old courier library labels
- Searching in Clover – an item might come up and not relate to the search
- Writing on the label
- Requests for books that just came out in the last few days
- Renewal notification email to patron – when it has been lent to a different patron.
- If asking for a longer due date – list a requested due date not just a month
- How do libraries distinguish book sets in their catalog?
- If requesting a set please include the number of copies you need
- Patrons requesting items that aren’t coming out for a few more months
- Patron putting in ILL request plus a suggested purchase form
- Patrons removing the bookstrap
- Automated emails
- Some statuses obscure the due dates (Not Received, Renewal Requested)
- Some libraries have the Transit time set so low that items go to not received after just a few days
- Lending periods being set so short that books are due so soon that the book ends up due that day it arrives. Lending period in best practices recommends 45 days.
- Due dates in Clover and ILS being very far apart – a few days is one thing
- Libraries requesting one renewal after another
- If you cannot give a long lending period when it’s being requested for a discussions set then do not lend it.
- Book club stuff – Burnham has four different books a month. Paperwork, tracking the item, multiple copies, when someone else is filling in, etc.
What topics do you want to Round Table to explore at future meetings?
- So much paper being used – practical ways to go greener and cut down on paper
- Take time to see how other libraries manage their procedures, how they do Clover, Patrons using clover, what is the process, what’s good and what’s bad
Other topics discussed:
Bradford – those housed in motels are now unhoused and some of those items are hard to get back or are now lost and those residents cannot access their email unless they come to the library. Bradford is asking for and grateful for clemency for those items. Things are being left in the bookdrop, or they are taking up space around the library. It’s a hard time in Bradford. The library is the camp for people. Both good and bad. The board is meeting tonight to discuss this issue and some others.
Dorset – puts out carts for free of items that were donated – Like a little free library and it cuts down on those losing items, etc.
Some libraries will lend new items – some won’t until it’s been out at least six months (Dorset, Springfield do not)
Adriene finds patron initiated requests helpful because patrons do some of the work of requests – even with having to check the requests and approve or modify
Book straps and patrons:
Put book strap on the back cover for kids books.
Stamp that says “Do not remove” on the inside of the barcode (Noreen at Essex uses this)
Additional News: UVM Howe Library has joined the courier! We are working on steps to set up lending to libraries through Clover. For now, continue to send requests for UVM items to VSS.