[ILL-L] Holiday Closings?

[Robinson, Arthur]

Is this for ILL lending, ILL borrowing, or both?  
 
GLG (LaGrange College) doesn't go lower case over the break, though we may not be supplying for up to four days; I take December 28-31 off, and the other person who handles ILL usually takes some time off, which may or may not overlap.  But I come in the morning of January 1 to check on ILL.  (I'm better off than my colleague the Electronic Resources librarian, who once had a faculty member phone her at home at 9 a.m. on New Year's Day and ask her to come in to fix her computer.)
 
The library itself is closed for December 24-26 (we used to get only the 25th off) and New Year's, so officially ILL is closed too (though I have often had e-mailed ILL requests from our patrons on January 1, and once I even had one on December 25).
 
I e-mail faculty and staff in early December and warn them that many libraries are closed for ILL in late December, and tell them that if they submit ILL requests after December 15, I may wait until January 2 to transmit them.  (I must admit that it this is partly to cover myself.  Normally I transmit requests if there are libraries that have the book and aren't lower case.  But sometimes I get book requests around December 20 and have a choice between sending the requests to a large university library that charges $15 plus or waiting for a library that will supply free on January 2.  Also, since smaller libraries supply more quickly, the patron may actually get the book sooner if I wait.  Last year, I submitted several requests between December 20 and 31.  The average speed for these was 25.4 days, whereas our average speed overall for books last year was 6.8 days.  Admittedly this was skewed by one library to which I submitted several requests, but in hindsight, I should have waited.)
 
Sorry for rambling--this is more information than you wanted.  I guess the short answers are:
(1) No, we're not going lower case.
(2)  Yes, we're (officially) closed those two days.
(3) We're open weekdays between Christmas and New Year, but we warn patrons that they may have to wait for requests submitted between those dates.  (If an ILL comes in during those days and both of us who handle ILL are away, I get a colleague to open incoming ILL mail so the patron gets ILLs ASAP.)
 
Arthur Robinson (GLG)
 

________________________________

From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org on behalf of Judy Stark
Sent: Mon 11/16/2009 12:24 PM
To: ill-l at webjunction.org
Subject: [ILL-L] Holiday Closings?



All-

 

I'm trying to get a handle on our staffing needs for the Christmas holidays and have been asked to formally gather some numbers from the interlibrary loan community.  

So, I'm looking for the following information:

 

1)       Are you closing/going lower case the week between Christmas and New Year's?

2)      If not, are you just closing for the actual day (Christmas Day or New Year's)?

3)      If you are open over the holidays, do you have a policy in place to manage the expectations of your patrons about delivery?  

 

If your library is closing that week, feel free to say so as well.  All this info will be kept anonymous, even from my bosses.  I'm happy to post numbers and a summary of whatever I receive.  

Thanks.

Judy

 

Judy A. Stark
Access Services/Government Documents Librarian & Lecturer in Law
Washington University Law Library
Campus Box 1171
One Brookings Dr.
St. Louis, MO  63130
Ph: 314-935-3330
Fax: 314-935-7125

jstark at wulaw.wustl.edu

 

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/ms-tnef
Size: 7142 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.webjunction.org/wjlists/ill-l/attachments/20091116/dc46a105/attachment.bin>