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Interlibrary Loan Round Table - February 2023 Summary

Agenda Topics

Search Tips/Tricks in Clover

Paperwork sent with Requests

Replacement of Lost/Damaged Items

 

 

Search Tips/Tricks in Clover

The general advice for searching in Clover was to use an ISBN search if looking for a specific edition, or if the results are too vast. Searching by title and then using limiters for authors was another. The recording of the meeting has a discussion about the approaches used by different librarians.

 

 

Replacement of Lost/Damaged Items

Reminder: Borrowing libraries are responsible for replacement or payment for lost or damaged items. If the lending library says a replacement copy is acceptable – the replacement must be the same format that was lost (i.e. you cannot replace a hardcover with a paperback).

What to do if a library does not respond to an invoice? Some libraries have had luck with calling the borrowing library directly to discuss the problem.

If you have borrowed a book and marked it “Lost” in Clover and did not hear back from the lender – it is perfectly fine to reach out to them directly.

 

 

Paperwork Included with Loans:

Paperwork included with loans still varies widely between libraries. At minimum everyone appreciates having the due date and the return label included with the request. Other information that is appreciated includes: where it is coming from, where it is going, and the request number. Some libraries have very part time staff processing interlibrary loan, and in the event of a missort or a mislabel having that information included with the request allows them to sort out any errors without having to wait until the interlibrary loan person is also available at the other library to clarify. You can also reach out to April directly with any questions.

 

I am putting together an informal survey to find out what people currently include with loans and what they would like to see included. That will be sent out in the next few weeks, and we can look at the results at the next round table in May and make any adjustments or updates to the ILL Best Practices based on those results and our discussion.

 

Updates from courier: Shipped dates are no longer required on courier labels. They continue to be helpful in the warehouse, but are no longer required.

 

 

Other topics:

Post Office:
The Post office has been bringing back outgoing items for some libraries. Some items have had the shipping paid twice because of this (though not all – it depends on the Post Office). Sometimes the problem is that hand written labels are hard to read, or the return address is too near the shipping address and the machines that read the outgoing labels cannot read them correctly. Pitney Bowes these suggestions:
Make the outgoing label very visibly separate from return address

Make outgoing address smaller

Handwritten is harder

No unnecessary information printed on the labels

 

I have reached out to the Post Office for any clarification or tips on their end, but I have not heard back yet. I will send out an update when I hear back!

 

 

Lending By Format:

Using the Participant Record to note what formats you lend. Please make sure formats are all matching (i.e. there are fields for DVDs, Blue Ray, and Visual material). If you do not lend any video material, please make sure that all of these are labeled as No. You can find these settings in Staff Dashboard> ILL Admin Menu > Participant Record and then click the “Lending” button in the middle at the top.

 

 

Not Received Setting:

Date setting that automatically moves items to “Not Received”

The “Days to Supply” setting in your Participant Record is what tells the system to move an item to “Not Received” after a specific number of days. Think of “Days to Supply” as “Days in transit.” The default setting for this when Clover started was 15 days, meaning a borrowing library has that number of days to update the item to “Received” before it is automatically moved to “Not Received” by the system.

 

 

 

 

The rest of the round table dates in 2023 are:

 

May 11, 2023, 1:00-3:00
 

August 10, 2023, 10:00-12:00
In-person only – location TBA, most likely in Central Vermont.

 

November 9, 2023, 1:00-3:00