[ILL-L] Charging Fees to Patrons for ILLS

[Mary.McQueen at wfpl.net]

Dear Heather,

I had tried to stay out of this since Texas's goal is to have free ILL
service for the public.  My library charges one-way postage - a fee which
stays in the patron's record whether or not they pick up the item.  We feel
that as a special service this is not unreasonable  It is all dependent
upon the weight of the item.  It has always een this library's policy.  We
are one large library with no branches currently - but hopeful and feel
that ILL fees are acceptable.

Mary

Mary McQueen - Interlibrary Loan Librarian
Wichita Falls Public Library
Wichita Falls TX  76301
940-767-0868 x230   Fax: 940-720-6659
Mary.McQueen at wfpl.net


                                                                           
             "Campbell,                                                    
             Heather"                                                      
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                                       RE: [ILL-L] Charging Fees to        
             12/12/2008 10:55          Patrons for ILLS                    
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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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