The meeting recording is available here.
Agenda/Summary
Discuss the Digital First model that the VTSU libraries are moving to, and any impact on interlibrary loan in public libraries. Michelle Whalen, the Circulation/ILL Coordinator at VTSU Randolph, will join us to answer any questions.
Michelle Whalen gave a brief overview of the model. Has been the ILL person since October. Digital first, not digital only. Liaison librarians are working with faculty to do collection development. If a book is suggested that will be used on more than one campus or for online students then they will try to purchase digital first for ease of student access. Work with EBSCO and another vendor to talk about lending chapters from eBooks. Folks in communities around the campuses can come in and access the online content in-person. For physical items they are still lending, and people can still come to the library in person to access and borrow.
If CCV students are coming to their public library and want to request an item that is an ebook you can direct them to the closest campus or let them know they can reach out and have the book mailed directly to their home.
Currently they can lend some DRM free eBooks but most lending of online content would be a chapter of an ebook. They would be sent a PDF to their email and they can share that with their patron.
Review and approve any changes to the Best Practices for ILL Document. So far suggested changes include:
- Reminder that if an item is lost – check with the lender about preferences regarding payment or a replacement copy before sending.
- Do not request new items unless they have been out for at least 60 days.
- If you share a catalog with a library, do not use that library’s barcode to create an ILL record in your library when checking out to a patron.
60 days for new books
Add to paperwork line – do not put labels on books that are not yours
Yes to the shared catalog barcode statement
What is the timeline you use for invoicing/paying for a book when it has been lost in the courier or USPS?
Rutland has three shipment days a week, so they are shipping out just about every other day. It would depend on when the borrowing library – how often they receive shipments. Can take at least a week for an item to arrive, and then another week before it arrives. At least a couple weeks before you think it has gone stray. Then give a phone call to the borrowing library (or vice versa) to talk about it.
Most people are saying they wait 2-3 months before giving up. Direct communication with the owning library is the best approach to problem solving and agreeing on a solution.
Bradford has waited three months or more before.
Other topics:
Best practices refer to Vermont libraries – and out of state libraries are not following them. They put labels on top of the book. Rutland – a lot of their books are coming from out of state, having trouble with successful requests.
Can book series titles be included in requests? Yes – the global request form has been updated to force this field to show. If it’s in the MARC record, it should display in the request. If this field is not showing on your request forms, you can edit the request form by going to Staff Dashboard > ILL Admin Menu > Configure Request Form.
Can we print the Borrower or lender notes on the book bands? Check settings. No – this is not an option for the bookstraps. I put in an enhancement ticket for Auto-Graphics to see if it can be enabled.
Shipping DVDs/Audiobooks – if it arrives in additional packaging, it should be sent back in additional packaging. Sections 4.14 and 5.7 of the Vermont ILL Code address responsibilities to “package materials to prevent damage in shipping” no matter the shipping type.