[ILL-L] What dept pays for yr ILL borrowing requests?

[Denise L Montgomery]

I know the subject line, What dept pays for your ILL borrowing 
requests? sounds very odd, but the reason I am asking it is because for 
years before I came to work here in 1984, our library has always passed 
along charges from the supplying libraries to our patrons. 
Since I was fairly aggressive about negotiating reciprocal agreements, 
we belong to LVIS, and we are lucky enough to be located in GA, the 
home of two fine ACRL libraries, Emory and the University of GA, we've 
managed to keep it so that only about 3% or less of our requests each 
year have charges fro borrowing requests. Still, our patrons, both 
students and faculty who face having to pay those charges--we warn them 
before we proceed further with the requests--aren't too happy with the 
prospect, especially if they've been at another institution where they 
pay for all ILL requests. It also puts a crimp in the workflow. And I 
am aware that most libraries don't have this problem, which I have been 
trying to get changed for years.

My bosses have indicated that they would like to consider the 
possibility of changing this policy, so they want some information on 
from where in the library's budget other libraries take the funds to 
pay for ILL charges from--do they have a budget for ILL? Do they take 
it from Reference? Access Services/Circ.? Acquisitions? General 
Operating expenses? A slush fund in the director's office safe? Is ILL 
expected to be self-supporting by generating enough money from lending 
fees from the items it loans out to pay for the stuff it borrows? (Wish 
we could do that, but in our case, that just about pays our annual 
ILLIAD bill.) Or, do they appeal to the administration for extra funds 
to pay for it? 

If it helps in formulating your reply, we have a student body of a 
little over 10,000 and a faculty of a little over 500. We are a four 
year university with a number of master's programs and a couple of 
doctoral programs.

                          Denise Montgomery
                          Valdosta State University Library