[ILL-L] Green interlibrary loan practices?

Wed Jul 2 09:23:56 EDT 2008

My predecessor had ordered a ton of these Thank You notes , so-sorry, folks- JPL will still be including them with returned ILL materials.  You can use the back of these for phone messages, of for bookmarks, or for small signs, or craft projects (origami comes to mind).  If we didn't have such a large supply, I would just have my staff use a thank you stamp on your paperwork.  But- even though we just moved into new quarters less than 3 years ago, we are running out of shelf space and we need to use these up.  We have enough for years to come. 

I use these Thank You notes as a morale booster for my staff and for the rest of the library staff who helps us with this service.  We have a couple of bulletin boards devoted to displaying Thank You notes. Anyone coming in to our area can see how far our materials travel. When our PR staff does a story on our service, these boards get photographed.  Thank You notes were used in a poster for this past Staff Development Day. I distribute Thank You notes  ILL in-house training sessions for the public service staff and receive a very positive response in return.  They are almost overwhelmed that the part they play in the ILL process is appreciated. We work in an area where positive feedback from the customers (our cardholders and your cardholders) we serve is not passed on to us or is taken for granted.  Our direct public service staff may hear the thanks from our customers; it's really an occasion when we do.  And every once in a blue moon, we'll get a personal note from one of your customers thanking us for (for example)  finding that obscure newspaper article.

Back to the original thread - I reuse the back of paper for copying and printing. I wish we could do more of this but other library departments are doing the same thing so used paper is at a premium. Any paper we can't re-use gets picked up by the recycling firm the library uses.  The ILL staff seems to have always been on the look-out for still useable cast-offs from other library departments; that's how we got the bins we use to hold our courier slips, our book ends, binders, book carts, office chairs, small pieces of furniture, et al.  A vintage wooden book cart salvaged from our old Main Library is my office "book case".  Our bar-coded courier slips are one-time use but we use the other side for scrap paper and have enough to share with the reference desks.  Our in-state courier service has nylon zip bags which saves us on mailing supplies for in-state loans.  Earlier this year, I went through the slips we used to print out on ILLiad and eliminated all those we didn't need.  We re-use mailers that still have some wear in them.  We work adjacent to IT and Talking Books and use their cast-off boxes or our larger ILL shipments.  Our large boxes that once held  bubble mailers are in demand by other departments for packing.  We re-use copier paper boxes to send back school books to our local school board.  Unused office supplies (we don't have much of this- mostly print cartridges for machines we no longer have) are sent back to our Central Supply for re-distribution.

Heather Campbell
Manager, Special Services (Interlibrary Loan & Books By Mail)
Jacksonville Public Library (JPL)
Jacksonville, FL 32202-3505
(904) 630-7017; VM: (904) 630-2986

________________________________

From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org on behalf of Willa Reister
Sent: Tue 7/1/2008 3:29 PM
To: Interlibrary Loan Listserv
Subject: RE: [ILL-L] Green interlibrary loan practices?

Forget the cute little thank you notes in returning material.  If you must
include a message, print on white paper so it can be recycled.
Willa Reister

--
Interlibrary Loan
Knox County Public Library System
500 W Church
Knoxville, TN 37902

865-215-8746
Fax to 865-215-8708

---------- Original Message -----------
From: "Kelley Hunt" <khunt at countylibrary.org>
To: <ill-l at webjunction.org>
Sent: Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:40:50 -0500
Subject: RE: [ILL-L] Green interlibrary loan practices?

> When jiffy and paper fluff bags are too worn for mailings, we use
> them as package stuffing when mailing av in boxes, or when a book in
> a bag needs some extra protection.
>
> Kelley
>
> >>> shanks at roberts.edu 07/01/08 01:56PM >>>
> We try to reuse paper and send articles electronically wherever
> possible without printing on paper first.  Our consortia has also
> invested in a maroonish burlap/cloth bag for their delivery system. 
> These are great!  If they aren't available we try to reuse
> envelopes.   I recycle everything that resembles a piece of paper.
>
> Sarah B. Shank
> Interlibrary Loan and Computer Lab Assistant
> B. Thomas Golisano Library
> 2301 Westside Dr.
> Rochester NY 14624
> shanks at roberts.edu or ill at roberts.edu
> ph: 585-594-6017
> fax: 585-594-6543
> odyssey: 24.213.134.58/ILL
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:ill-l-
> bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Chris Sweet Sent: Tuesday,
> July 01, 2008 2:35 PM To: ill-l at webjunction.org Subject: [ILL-L]
> Green interlibrary loan practices?
>
> Hello, I am working on an article that has a section on "green"
> practices in interlibrary loan.  I am looking at things like re-
> using packaging, cutting down on amount of paper used, recycling, etc.
>
> Anyone have ideas that they'd be willing to share about how you've
> cut down on waste and moved towards more sustainable practices in
> your ILL departments?
>
> Thanks in advance!
> Chris
>
> "To know what you prefer instead of humbly saying Amen  to what the
> world tells you you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul
> alive." -Robert Louis Stevenson
>
> Chris Sweet
>
> Information Services Librarian
> Heartland Community College Library
> 1500 W. Raab Rd.
> Normal, IL 61761
>
> Phone: (309) 268-8277
> Fax: (309) 268-7989
>
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------- End of Original Message -------

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