[ILL-L] Books arriving from lender damaged due to age

[Sue Kaler]

Hi,
 
On our lending side, we sometimes let things go out that are in a pretty 
sorry state.  The problem is that we are supplying from 40 libraries in our 
consortium and have not seen the item before we have said yes.  Some of our 
member libraries seem to keep things in circulation that we ourselves would 
have repaired or discarded.  In these cases, where we are lending something 
that is in poor condition, we always note the condition on our Clio sticker 
so the borrower will know we are not going to blame them.  We figure it's 
better to send the item, even if in poor condition, rather than go through 
the complications for us and the borrower of contacting and letting them 
know we will not be sending after all even though the request has a shipped 
status.  What do others think?
 
Sue Kaler
Interlibrary Loan Supervisor
Wellesley Free Library
530 Washington Street
Wellesley, MA 02482
OCLC symbol MLN
skaler at minlib.net
voice (781)235-1610 x1112, fax (781)237-4875

When responding, please be advised that the Town of Wellesley has 
determined that email could be considered a public record.




-----Original Message-----
From: "Beth Willis" <BWillis at mcpl.lib.mo.us>
To: "Interlibrary Loan Listserv" <ill-l at webjunction.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 10:41:46 -0500
Subject: [ILL-L] Books arriving from lender damaged due to age


Lately I've been seeing a lot of books come through here from lenders that 
are really not fit to circulate; e.g. the text block is entirely pulled away 
from the spine.
 
Is there a protocol for this? Do you repair such items before circulating to 
your patron? Do you let them go out as is? (There is no way the lender 
wasn't aware of the condition of the material before sending it. Or, do you 
return them to the lender and submit a new request for the patron?
 
My *real* question is: Why do libraries let stuff go out in this condition? 
:-?
 
 
 
Beth Willis
ILL Department Head
bwillis at mcpl.lib.mo.us
Phone: (816) 521-7231
Mid-Continent Public Library - http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us
Unless explicitly attributed, the opinions expressed are personal.
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