[ILL-L] borrowing entire issues one article at a time

[Robinson, Arthur]

I always cringe when this situation comes up (though a couple of times we got off the hook because it turned out we had full text in a database).  Our policy, like yours, is never to borrow (or loan) entire issues, and since we're a small library with a corresponding budget, I try to avoid the big bucks we'd owe if we ordered multiple articles from one issue.  
 
When we get a request for multiple articles in an issue, here's what I do:
 
(1)  Check to see if we have full text in a database, and if so, notify the patron.  (This has worked a couple of times.)
 
(2)  If it's a special issue, check WorldCat to see if any libraries have catalogued it as a monograph.  (This too has worked once in a while.  Our library too gets occasional requests for "special issues" we've catalogued as books.)
 
(3)  Check to see if we can purchase the entire issue, either as a back issue from a publisher or from a source like bookfinder.com.  This sometimes works.  (We once got the entire issue for $18.75 when it would probably have cost about $90 if we'd had to go through CCC.  Actually, this sometimes helps even if the patron only wants one article.  One of our patrons recently wanted an article that was something like 85 pages long from an obscure foreign periodical.  It turned out a used copy of this issue was available for $10.)
 
(4)  If none of this works, I notify the patron and explain that s/he can either choose one article, or agree to pay for us to get multiple articles on ILL.  Since we will pay only the first $15 on an ILL request, so far all patrons have decided to get one article for free rather than to pay for more.
 
In the last case, I also check to see which libraries, preferably nearby, have the issue in question, and inform the patron.  
 
 
Arthur Robinson (GLG)
 
 

________________________________

From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org on behalf of Nora Allred
Sent: Wed 3/19/2008 12:28 PM
To: Interlibrary Loan Listserv
Subject: [ILL-L] borrowing entire issues one article at a time



Dear Colleagues,

How do you address systematic borrowing from a single journal issue?  We
have cases where a journal publishes an issue on a specific topic that
is of interest to a patron.  The patron then requests many if not all of
the articles in the issue.  Our ILL policy lists "entire issues of
journals" under "what cannot be borrowed."  But our patrons are getting
around that by requesting single articles.  I'm concerned that this
would be a violation of copyright.  But I'm also wondering how much
effort I should expect my staff to expend watching for such "abuses."  
Or should I be more explicit in our policy?

Please share your solutions and ideas.  Thanks in advance.

Nora

--
Nora Allred
Head, Access Services
J. Robert Van Pelt Library
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI
phone: 906-487-3208
email: nsallred at mtu.edu
_______________________________________________
ILL-L mailing list
ILL-L at webjunction.org
http://lists.webjunction.org/mailman/listinfo/ill-l


-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/ms-tnef
Size: 6290 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/ill-l/attachments/20080319/0e036365/attachment.bin