[ILL-L] Charging Fees to Patrons for ILLS

[Campbell, Heather]

A library downstate started charging $5 (I think) for placing ILL
requests after the property tax reform measure went through earlier this
year.  We aren't planning to charge for placing requests at this time.
 
Because of our tax set-up (no income tax, hence a reliance on property
tax revenues), we can't pay lending fees for our customers. Luckily, we
have a large pool of free lenders with our state, LVIS, Soline, SIXX,
reciprocal, and free lender partners that benefits our customers in most
cases.  There are a couple of proposals making their excruciatingly slow
passage through the JPL Admin/Board approval process.  One is to have
customers get us the check for payment to the fee lender (if that is the
sole source) before the loan is requested.  The other is to charge
libraries for loans who would charge us for loans.  We have a pool of
very frequent borrowers who aren't interested in returning the favor.
The plan is to charge them for loans or copies what they would charge
us/our customers.
 

Heather Campbell
Special Services ~ Interlibrary Loan and Books By Mail
Jacksonville Public Library   303 North Laura Street
Jacksonville, Florida 32202
heatherc at coj.net    904-630-2985 

 

________________________________

From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of SHORT Rachael
Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2008 1:36 PM
To: Interlibrary Loan Listserv
Subject: RE: [ILL-L] Charging Fees to Patrons for ILLS


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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