[ILL-L] OCLC SEARCHING

[W Stephen Breedlove]

List members,

For whatever the following is worth:

After dealing daily with the issue of faulty OCLC searching about which I went on at length a couple of weeks or so ago, I made the decision today to deflect requests received through OCLC for articles from ejournals and to deflect requests received through OCLC for ebooks.  I assume that sharing a position on an issue with this list is mostly preaching to the choir and that the people who should be made aware of an issue or a problem more than likely do not subscribe to this list.

Today, I said NO to ten requests for articles from journals that the requesting libraries had put on the OCLC records for the ejournal versions instead of the print versions: we did not have the issues needed in online format and we did not own the print versions of the journals.  On three of these requests, we were the first library in the lender string.  On five of these requests, we were the second library in the lender string.  For one request, we were the third library in the string.  For one request, we were the fifth lender in the string!  Frequently, I have said CONDITIONAL to these kinds of requests and have told the requesting libraries that they might have better luck requesting on OCLC records for the print versions of the journals.  I cannot take the time anymore to do this.

Today, I also said CONDITIONAL to one request for an ebook, when I am sure that the requesting library really wanted to borrow the print version, which we did not own.  On this request, we were the second library in the lender string.  I told this library that they might have better luck in obtaining the book by requesting on the OCLC record for the print version.  I have found myself doing conditionals for requests for ebooks every day and cannot take the time to do this anymore.

These types of requests seem to be a result of sloppy searching in OCLC and reflect a severe lack of training in searching OCLC efficiently and effectively.  What kind of service and turnaround, if any, is being provided by libraries that produce these kinds of requests?  Do they ever obtain an article or a book?  It's a shame that this kind of interlibrary loan/document delivery service is being provided these days.

I decided to deflect requests such as these because our workload is increasingly being inflated by these requests to which we would probably say NO in most cases.  Why deal with them at all?  It's a bottomless pit.

W. Stephen Breedlove, MLS, MA
Reference Librarian/Interlibrary Loan Coordinator
Connelly Library, La Salle University
breedlov at lasalle.edu<mailto:breedlov at lasalle.edu>
215-951-1862



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/ill-l/attachments/20081104/70d762e7/attachment.htm