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Interlibrary Loan Round Table - November 2020 Summary

The recording did not begin until about 15 minutes into the meeting, so the recording opens with a summary of what was discussed up to that point.

The topics discussed were:

Interlibrary Loan Best Practices

We have had a draft document for the Interlibrary Loan Best Practices for several months now. The group discussed any additions or changes necessary. The changes made at this meeting were:

  • to add the request that if you put your own bookstraps or labels on an interlibrary loan item you borrowed to remove them before returning.
  • To add that if you receive an item meant for another library please forward to the correct library indicated on the paperwork (if paperwork is included) and to also reach out to myself.
  • A suggested loan period of at least 45 days was added, but this is up to individual libraries.

We then approved the final document and it moved out of draft status. Here is the link to the final document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TcbUDPAKEuYFI5yiBfaeNAdY469wZNIhbXwmpR3oAp4/edit?usp=sharing.

 

Standardizing Loan Periods

This had been briefly discussed at a previous meeting, and the general consensus was that a 45 day loan period was a good starting point to account for transit times and quarantine times. Libraries are able to decide if this works for their loans, and can adjust depending on format, if the title is new, etc. A suggestion of a longer loan period (80+ days) with no renewals was suggested as that is a standard for many out of state libraries, especially in academic libraries. This suggestion was turned down. However, the group agreed to revisit the suggested 45 day minimum loan period at the next meeting in February.

 

Bookstraps

Just a reminder that came up, you can edit the note that is on your bookstraps. To edit any of the information that appears on the bookstraps for your library go to Staff Dashboard>ILL Admin Men>Configure Bookstraps.

 

Quarantine Periods

There are a variety of quarantine periods that libraries are following based on the available research and their own communities. It appears that every library is quarantining as a borrower, but very few are quarantining as a lender. So the items are quarantined when they arrive at a library, but the lending library does not quarantine before they go out. With transit times and a quarantine, everyone agrees that seems like a good strategy. Again, all quarantine decisions should be made by the individual library with the current science and their communities in mind.

 

Aspen Discovery Level

ByWater has created their own discovery layer to create a seamless interface for users who have Koha and Overdrive. I have not viewed the presentation shared with me yet, but I will be checking it to see how and if it can integrate with Clover, and what that may mean.

 

KitKeeper

Michelle at Fletcher Free talked about KitKeeper and the pilot program that Fletcher Free and other Chittenden County libraries are running (with a grant from GMLC). They are working on expanding this program beyond Chittenden County and would like to talk to interested libraries. KitKeeper is a web-based service that allows libraries to add their own discussion sets for lending as well as browse and reserve the discussion sets owned by other libraries. An informational session on Zoom is scheduled for Friday, December 11 at 1PM. Please contact Michelle (mmlee@burlingtonvt.gov) or myself for the Zoom link.

 

Lending of Non-Traditional Items

Reminder: There is a Zoom meeting hosted by Mary Danko at Fletcher Free on Thursday, November 12 at 1-2 PM to discuss the lending of non traditional items in Vermont libraries. 

 

The Recording of the November 2, 2020 Interlibrary Loan Round Table Meeting is available here.