[ILL-L] Charging Fees to Patrons for ILLS

[SHORT Rachael]

Several years ago (early 1990s perhaps) we charged $1 per request,
whether the ILL was successful or not. Requests plummeted to nearly
nothing. We haven't charged for ILLs since. 
 
We pay the first $10 of any charge from the owning library. Our feeling
that it is easier/cheaper to pay the charge than spend staff time on
contacting patrons to see if they agree to a charge & billing them.
 
Rachael Short
Multnomah County Library (ORX)
Portland, Oregon
rachaels at multcolib.org

	-----Original Message-----
	From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Linda Beins
	Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 12:19 PM
	To: ill-l at webjunction.org
	Subject: [ILL-L] Charging Fees to Patrons for ILLS
	
	

	Because of possible severe cuts in funding, my director has
approached me with a proposal to begin charging for ILLs. We are a
public library system that borrows items on behalf of patrons of 33 very
small to medium-sized public libraries. I would appreciate hearing from
other public library systems and consortia as well as public libraries
that are charging fees or have charged fees in the past. How much do/did
you charge and for what? How did the fees affect the service and your
volume of ILLs? How do/did you manage the accounting? What other issues
should I anticipate?

	 

	Thanks,

	Linda B.

	 

	Linda G. Beins

	ILL/Reference Coordinator

	Finger Lakes Library System

	119 E. Green St.

	Ithaca, NY 14850

	607 273-4074 ext. 32

	lbeins at flls.org

	 

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