[ILL-L] borrowing books for college classes

[Lowman, Lisa]

Susan well explained.  Thank you and that settles my request.   Thank
you all for responding to my question.  I have more than enough to carry
me through.  As always you all are great resources.

 

Lisa

 

From: ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:ill-l-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Susan Morris
Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 11:57 AM
To: Interlibrary Loan Listserv
Subject: Re: [ILL-L] borrowing books for college classes

 

Hi Lisa,

 

We, like many other academic ILL departments, are plagued at the
beginning of every semester by requests for textbooks. We sympathize
with students concerning the rising costs of textbooks and we truly are
not just trying to be mean or keep anybody from getting their degree,
but we, and a good number of other ILL departments, specifically list in
our local policies page for our own users why ILL is not a substitute
for students' obtaining textbooks). To get you started, among the
various reasons:

 

1)Most libraries do not include textbooks as part of their collection
development policies. Therefore it can be extremely difficult to locate
a library that owns any edition of the needed title (much less the exact
edition being used in any given semester). Even finally locating and
borrowing the wrong edition could take well into the term, if we are
lucky. 

 

2) Most lending units have a relatively short loan period--even if
renewals are granted. Most do not have a "whole semester" or "whole
year" loan period (which is what these users often expect. We had
someone hold onto a borrowed book unbeknownst to us as being used in a
class till it was so overdue we were rightly billed from the lending
institution for the book--which was considerably higher than the price
of the textbook from a bookstore-- factoring in fines, replacement
processing fees etc.) 

 

3) A borrowing library may be charged a loan fee (if they can locate a
lender). At our institution, we are undergoing budget cuts and
furloughs--when we are looking at cutting out databases and journal
subscriptions--which are obtained for the good of all, we cannot justify
spending hundreds or thousands of dollars in loan fees so that some
students won't have to pay any money for their textbooks.

 

The three above reasons don't stop people from asking--but we have to
stand firm. Also, in our state the HOPE scholarship, available to
students who maintain a 3.0 gpa has a $150 book allowance--again, I know
that it only goes so far covering the price of textbooks--but it's
better than nothing.

 

One other observation, based on an experience we had last spring: We
cannot ask another library to copy chapter one this week, chapter two in
a couple of weeks, chapter three a week or so later etc. etc.(even
thouogh we provide free copies to our users, there is a little thing
called COPYRIGHT that plays into this scheme)....

 

Hope this helps,

Susan Morris

ILL/GUA

University of Georgia Libraries

Athens, GA  30602

 

 

	----- Original Message ----- 

	From: Lowman, Lisa <mailto:Lisa.Lowman at va.gov>  

	To: Interlibrary Loan Listserv <mailto:ill-l at webjunction.org>  

	Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 11:10 AM

	Subject: [ILL-L] borrowing books for college classes

	 

	Good Morning All:

	 

	I just had a patron come to me inquiring about ordering books
through ILL for her son who is in college(10) books in all.  I do
remember sometime ago, an email discussion on this topic, but do not
remember what the final response was.  Of course, I did tell her about
the use Barnes and Noble book store in NY on 18 & 5th and the strand
book store too.  I don't think we do this because it is not medical or
related to the job so I need your help so that I can respond to her
properly and forward her on to the next resource.  

	 

	Thank you as always my back-up!


	 

	Lisa Lowman-Sheppard

	Library Technician

	Medical Library 3-142D

	VA New Jersey Healthcare System

	385 Tremont Avenue

	East Orange, New Jersey 07018

	973-676-1000x11969

	Email: lisa.lowman at va.gov

	 

	
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