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Update on Patron-Focused Services:

A Panel Discussion

American Library Association,

ILL Discussion Group Meeting

January 15, 2005

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Presenters:

Suzanne Ward– Purdue University

Tanner Wray– University of Maryland, College Park

Karl Debus-Lopez– Georgetown University

Jim Jaquette– Thomas Crane (MA) Public Library

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Presentation Order

Concept Overview Follow-up: what happened since 2002? Open Forum:

– Implementations Elsewhere– Questions & Answers

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ALA Annual Meeting 2002 (Atlanta)

“Patron Focused Services: Models of Collaborative Interlibrary Loan, Collection Development & Acquisitions”

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ILL Book Borrowing: Traditional Model

Borrow book A few weeks’ use Return book

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ILL Transaction Costs

ARL average transaction cost (2002 study): $26.78

– Borrower: $17.50– Lender: $ 9.28

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Exploring a New Model:Keep the Book!

Immediate purchase of ILL book requests that meet certain criteria

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Why a New Model?

Fill requests that might otherwise go unfilled Enhance the collection based on patrons’

expressed needs Improve service and patron satisfaction

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What Is It Called?

Books on Demand Just-in-Time Acquisitions Point-of-Need Acquisitions Collaborative Collection Development Buy/Borrow

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Just-In-Time Model

Establish acquisitions parameters Purchase book Lend to ILL patron Add book to collection after patron use

ASSUMPTION: A book that one patron needs will also be useful to others.

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Funding the program

ILL funds?Discretionary funds?Collection development funds?Gift Funds?Other?

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Acquisitions Criteria

Publication date Language Popular/Scholarly … Fiction/Non-fiction Hardcover/paperback/audio visual Maximum cost Delivery time Supplier

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When to buy?

First search string failed Too new/popular to borrow Immediately, if criteria met

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Who makes the purchase decision?

ILL librarian? ILL technician? Acquisitions/collection development

librarians/bibliographers?

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Who to buy from?

Online bookseller Local bookstore Usual book vendor Publisher Out of print/aggregator site

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To catalog or not to catalog ….

Lend to patron first?Catalog item first?

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Major Workflow Objective

As little extra processing as possible

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Evaluation Criteria

– Track subsequent circulation– Solicit patron feedback– Analyze patrons’ departments &

status– Analyze purchased books

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Evaluations

Patrons – Books arrived quickly– Books very relevant to research

Bibliographers (after the fact)– Most books relevant to collection– Many interdisciplinary (“through the cracks” titles)

Subsequent Circulation– Higher compared with “normally” acquired books– High ILL use

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Conclusions

Patrons delighted with program Turnaround time acceptable Project adds relevant titles to collection Extra processing time not significant Not as effective for sci/tech titles

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What’s Happened Since 2002?

Thomas Crane Public Library Georgetown University Purdue University University of Wisconsin University of Maryland

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Does your library have an ILL acquisitions program?

Successes? Challenges? Buy-in from colleagues? “If I knew then what I know now” Patron response? Workflow management? Program analysis?

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Starting a New Program

Questions? Possible challenges? Funding? Concerns?