"Borrow Direct" Resource Sharing
From 1999 to 2001 RLG staff assisted Columbia
University, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University to prepare
for and conduct a pilot project enabling each university's readers to
initiate online loan requests directly to the other institutions for
books not available locally—without staff intervention. A
commercial software package was modified for use in the project. The
outcome? User satisfaction was high; cost savings were measurable; and
staff productivity rose. We gained additional insight into ILL staffing
and workflows at member libraries and useful experience with this
resource-sharing model.
At the pilot's conclusion in June 2001 Columbia, Penn,
and Yale took over RLG's role of management and coordination with the
software supplier. They continued their collaborative operations. In
2002 Brown University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and
Princeton University joined in the Borrow Direct service. Faculty,
staff, and students at these seven institutions can search their
combined library catalogs and directly request expedited delivery of
circulating items.
- [link to "/legacy/r-focus/i50.html#borrow-direct"
target="_blank" "Successful
Borrow Direct Model for ILL to Expand in July"
RLG Focus 50 (June 2001)
What we learned
From December 1999 through June 2001, after months of
planning, three RLG members—Columbia University, University
of Pennsylvania, and Yale University—conducted an extended
pilot of their Borrow Direct interlending project. Initially dubbed the
CoPY Project (Columbia, Penn,
and Yale), this was the test of a new model for
resource sharing meant to shorten turnaround time, reduce delivery
costs, and streamline the ILL process.
Without staff intervention, Borrow Direct allows the
three institutions' readers to initiate online loan requests for books
unavailable from their home institution from one of the others. A
modified commercial software package makes this possible. Among its
goals, the project was designed to answer the following questions:
- Is this a cost-effective alternative to
traditional ILL?
- Does it provide a better service for users?
- Do the three collections complement each other in a way that
is beneficial to users?
The project interested RLG as a source of valuable
information and a promising model for possible wider application in
collaborative resource sharing. Throughout the planning and the pilot,
RLG was the administrator for the software, served as liaison between
the vendor and the participants, managed contracts and finances, and
acted as a work coordinator.
Outcomes
As an integral part of the pilot, participants monitored
performance issues, costs, and staff workflow. User satisfaction was
high; cost savings were measurable; and staff productivity rose.
Columbia, Penn, and Yale determined to continue the pilot beyond June
2001, taking over the role of management and coordination with the
software supplier.
RLG gained additional insight into member library ILL
staffing and workflow and useful experience in the efficiencies to be
gained from:
-
Empowering patrons to search for and request items
electronically.
-
Allowing requests only for items that are owned and eligible.
-
Sending requests directly to the lending institution without
mediation by the borrowing library.
-
Linkages to circulation to reduce redundancies in workflow.
-
Automatic e-mail notifications to patrons based on the
changing status of requested items.
Borrow Direct library pages
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