[ILL-L] ILL Workflow, workload-leveling, cross-training

Tue Oct 7 10:06:14 EDT 2008

We stopped requesting renewals for our borrowed ILL books years ago to
save staff time and because patrons tend to abuse it. We have a
statement in big letters "No Renewals" on our label. Of course we still
have people call from time to time asking if we really mean it. J  We do
offer to request it again from a different library. It's worked out
pretty well for us. 

Becky Norman

King County Library System

Interlibrary Loan manager

(425) 369-3492

benorman at kcls.org <mailto:benorman at kcls.org> 

From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Campbell, Heather
Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 6:45 AM
To: Interlibrary Loan Listserv; ILLiad-l Discussion List
Subject: RE: [ILL-L] ILL Workflow, workload-leveling, cross-training

X-posted.

Sorry, folks!

Forgot to mention.  We use Direct Request in Borrowing, Deflection in
Lending, Custom Holdings, etc.  Part of the reason for the log-jam is
that our customers -though they say yes to a statement that they've read
our FAQ- request items the FAQ says we don't request.  Primary among
these are requests for books we own and part of the process involves
placing holds requests for them.  

Another kinda-related question- how many libraries -especially public
libraries- out there DO NOT request/allow renewals for Borrowed ILL
materials?

Heather Campbell

Manager- Special Services (Interlibrary Loan and Books by Mail)

Jacksonville Public Library (JPL)

303 North Laura Street

Jacksonville, FL 32202-3505 ill at coj.net  (904) 630-2986

________________________________

From: Jenny Baker [mailto:Jenny.Baker at wlc.edu] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 9:35 AM
To: Campbell, Heather
Subject: RE: [ILL-L] ILL Workflow, workload-leveling, cross-training

Heather,

This may or may not work in a public library setting (and I work in a
very small academic library) but all of our full-time librarians are
cross trained in borrowing & lending.  I notice that you mentioned
borrowing specifically. There are certain items that the rest of the
staff know that they can process the request for - most notably free and
within the state of Wisconsin.  If there is a request for anything out
of state or where a charge would be incurred that is left for me as the
ILL managing librarian.  If I am gone, then the library director (since
we are all really Janes of all trades here) will take care of it.  It's
a rare occurrence that we would both be gone at the same time and in
that case our heavy ILL users are made aware of our absence and then
they tend to refrain from making any requests until we get back.  As I
mentioned, not a common occurrence but it does happen once in a while.  

Another thing you may want to consider using to reduce the work load on
borrowing is to turn on Direct Request through OCLC.  I have it turned
on and have my parameters set to be very restrictive so that there is no
chance of something going through that I don't want to.  The only items
that go through on Direct Request are those where there would be no
charges and within the state of Wisconsin within a certain range of
academic libraries.  Being a private academic institution I have my
profile set to go to free private academic institutions first, then
Marquette University (so they don't get hit quite so hard), then I go to
free University of Wisconsin institutions throughout the state.  If the
item is not found at any of those libraries then it goes into my review
file.  This has greatly reduced our borrowing workflow and then the only
thing we need to do is process it when it arrives.  I don't use any ILL
management software but do keep a homemade Access database so I just
copy and paste all of my data from WRS into the database.  Makes it
pretty simple.

I hope that this helps you somewhat.  If you have any questions please
feel free to e-mail me.

Jenny

Jenny Baker

Reference/Interlibrary Loan Librarian

Marvin M. Schwan Library

Wisconsin Lutheran College

e-mail:  Jenny.Baker at wlc.edu

Phone:  414-443-8822

From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Campbell, Heather
Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 8:20 AM
To: ILLiad-l Discussion List; Interlibrary Loan Listserv
Subject: [ILL-L] ILL Workflow, workload-leveling, cross-training

Posted to ILL and ILLiad listservs.  Please excuse the duplication.

This fiscal year, one of our performance objectives involves finding
more efficient ways of processing, locating, and notifying (Lending and
Borrowing) customers of eligible ILL requests.   In looking at our
processes, my staff and I have found that the processes for ILL
Borrowing are the most time-consuming/labor-intensive of any other
process in our area.  What are your "best practices"/recommendations
involving :

*	Handling of workload during staff absences
*	Load-leveling the tasks (so that no one staff member is
overwhelmed)
*	Handling "peak time" workloads

Thanks for your input!

Heather Campbell

Manager- Special Services (Interlibrary Loan and Books by Mail)

Jacksonville Public Library (JPL)

303 North Laura Street

Jacksonville, FL 32202-3505 ill at coj.net  (904) 630-2986

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