[ILL-L] Why ask for citation information

[Campbell, Heather]

We have ILLiad too but our experience in the public library setting is
much the same as Arthur's @ GLG.  In 'in-house' training, I repeatedly
tell the staff: "The more information we get, the more likely we're able
to fill the customer's request".   Researchers- especially those doing
genealogy- will give us this information.  There's an advantage to them
when they provide this information; ILLiad keeps a request history and
they can go back and retrieve this information from the Customer
Interface if they need to.

 

Heather Campbell
Special Services ~ Interlibrary Loan and Books By Mail
Jacksonville Public Library
Jacksonville, Florida 32202
ill at coj.net    904-630-2985 

________________________________

From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Robinson, Arthur 
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 6:12 PM
To: Interlibrary Loan Listserv
Subject: RE: [ILL-L] Why ask for citation information

 

Our ILL forms (paper--we're dinosaurs) also ask for this, but patrons
usually ignore it.  I don't find it necessary for books (unless the
patron is requesting the book SCIENCE by J. Smith, or has cited
incorrectly; but those patrons never fill out Source of citation).  But
it's often useful for article citations, especially when the journal's
title is an acronym.  If I get a request for an article from JOIOUT
1963, I'm baffled; but if the patron indicates it's from such-and-such a
reference book, I look it up, check the key, and find that JOIOUT is the
Journal of Incredibly Obscure and Useless Trivia, and I'm all set.

 

I urge patrons to attach a printout of the citation (when they get it
from a database), and I tell them that if they attach it, they don't
have to fill out the citation information.  That saves us both time.

 

As for contacting the patron--easier said than done.  I have enough
trouble getting patrons to pick up their books (or return an overdue
book), and it's harder to get them to respond for a query on where they
got the citation.  If I'm lucky, I get a reply like "A big red book."

 

(Sorry--I'm working my fifth night shift in nine days, and am getting
even stranger than usual.)

 

Arthur Robinson (GLG)

 

 

________________________________

From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org on behalf of Paul Drake
Sent: Tue 9/25/2007 4:20 PM
To: 'Interlibrary Loan Listserv'
Subject: [ILL-L] Why ask for citation information

We use the standard ILL forms designed up by ILLiad. After the
bibliographic information, the customer is asked 

 

Where did you learn about this item?

 

Where did you find this item cited? 
Examples are databases like Compendex, Dialog (specify which database),
or a specific journal or book.

 

 

 

Date of the work that cited the item.

 

 

 

Volume number of the work that cited the item.

 

 

 

Pages where the item is cited.

 

 

 

 

This is on both the article and loan forms.

 

I know the bibliographic importance of this information, but I probably
use this information about once a month.

 

Why should I be collecting information from ILL users that I only use
less than 1% of the time? Isn't this a waste of the borrower's time?

 

I can always contact - and often do even with the citation information
provided - the customer with my question(s).

 

 

 

There is a notes field on the form already.

 

 

Paul B. Drake

Interlibrary Loan Librarian

Frazar Memorial Library

McNeese State University (LHA)

Lake Charles LA 70609

337.475.5726

 

McNeese State University - Excellence with a Personal Touch

 

 

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