9 OCLC ILL Fee Management Service

Chapter overview

This chapter describes the OCLC ILL Fee Management Service, a means to pay and be paid for lending charges through your OCLC invoice.

9.1 Overview

Benefits

ILL Fee Management (IFM) provides a means to pay and be paid for resource sharing requests through your OCLC invoice. It reduces the workload and time spent generating invoices and writing checks. It also supports reciprocal ILL agreements among libraries. Using ILL Fee Management is optional.

Process

ILL Fee Management is activated on a request-by-request basis:

1. The Borrower offers to make IFM payment to the Lender by entering a dollar amount in the Maximum Cost field, and clicking the ILL Fee Management (IFM) check box.
2. The Lender accepts the offer by entering the same or a lesser dollar amount in the Lending Charges field, and clicking the IFM check box.
3. The OCLC system matches these two fields and activates ILL Fee Management when the Borrower updates the request to Received.

Requirements

ILL Fee Management works under these conditions:

1. Both the Borrower and the Lender enter valid ILL Fee Management statements.
2. The Lending Charges amount does not exceed the Maximum Cost amount.
3. The Borrower updates the status of the request to Received.

Constant Data

Create Constant Data Records that contain IFM data you use often. For example, create several Borrower Constant Data Records using different IFM values in Maximum Cost, and several Lender Constant Data Records using different IFM values in Lending Charges.

9.2 Billing

Introduction

IFM activity appears on your institution's OCLC invoice in the following line items:

Reports

The ILL Fee Management Report itemizes the debits and credits listed on your invoice. See chapter 6, "WorldCat Resource Sharing Reports in OCLC Usage Statistics" for details.

Finance staff

Discuss the IFM billing process with your library's accounts receivable or general finance staff. They may offer suggestions that will allow you to take advantage of the IFM option.

Net Lenders

The degree to which your OCLC Regional Service Provider or OCLC invoice is affected depends on the extent to which you use the service. If you are a large net-Lender (that is, you supply more than you borrow), you could decrease your overall OCLC bill using the service.

Nonpayment

If the Borrower does not pay the Lender's fee, OCLC reverses the debits and credits. Any taxes on the ILL charge are the responsibility of the Borrower and Lender.

9.3 Initiating ILL Fee Management

Borrower initiates IFM

The Borrower chooses ILL Fee Management when initiating a request.

To create a borrowing request:

IFM format

You must use the correct format to activate ILL Fee Management. To create a valid IFM statement:

• Enter a single specific dollar amount (U.S. dollars) for example, 10.00 . Do not enter other text.
• The "$" is optional. IFM regards amounts in U.S. dollars only, even if a symbol or word denoting otherwise (for example, pound, yen, lira) precedes the amount. For example, £5.00 is read as 5 U.S. dollars, not 5 British pounds. Dollar amounts must be numeric.
• Enter amounts of less than $1.00 as two-digit decimals, for example, .64 .
• Enter an amount greater than $0 but not more than $999.99. In Lending Charges, the amount cannot exceed the amount in Maximum Cost amount.

Decimal position

IFM interprets numerals before the decimal point as dollars, and numerals after the decimal point as cents. Amounts without a decimal are interpreted as dollar amounts. For example, 10 is $10. If you enter a decimal point, you must enter a two-digit number after it (for example, 10.50).

Examples of valid IFM statements

The following are examples of valid entries of ILL Fee Management statements:

Reciprocal partners

You can use IFM in a request even if the lender string includes reciprocal institutions that do not charge for loans. In the Maximum Cost field, enter an IFM statement. Reciprocal partners that can fill the request at no charge update the record to Shipped, but leave the Lending Charges field blank. If a reciprocal partner cannot supply, the record goes to the next institution in the lender string.

9.4 Responding to ILL Fee Management

Lender response

The Lender may respond to an IFM request by:

• Accepting billing through ILL Fee Management
• Acting as a reciprocal partner, or
• Rejecting ILL Fee Management

Accept IFM

To accept billing through ILL Fee Management and fill the request:

Reject IFM

To fill the request but not bill through IFM:

OCLC response

When you send the fields containing the valid ILL Fee Management statements, WorldCat Resource Sharing responds with a confirming message (for example: IFM information supplied).

If either statement is invalid, or the Lending Charges amount exceeds the Maximum Cost amount, the item is not billed through ILL Fee Management—even if each statement received a confirming message as it was entered.

Borrower updates to Received

When the Borrower updates an IFM request to Received, the system compares the Maximum Cost and Lending Charges fields. If the IFM statement is valid and the amounts are valid, the system:

• Debits the Borrower for the amount in Lending Charges.
• Credits the Lender for the amount specified in Lending Charges.

Cannot deactivate

Once the Borrower updates a loan request to Received, you cannot deactivate ILL Fee Management.