> Dear Interlibrary lending colleagues
> 
> The two notices below will be issued in September to try and improve our
> processing of your third party ILL claims. The first will appear in the
> September Customer Update, and the second will appear as part of the
> introduction to the new edition of the Directory of Library Codes, which
> has been augmented with libraries' ILL charging policies. As you can see,
> it is also a forewarning of the Library's decision to cover the cost of
> this service with a small administration fee from October (we have been
> spreading the word on this for some time but some of you may be hearing it
> for the first time).
> 
> We would also like to encourage you to use our new templates, which will
> certainly help us process your claims more quickly and may be of benefit
> to you too. They are not mandatory however. Please note: at the moment
> these are available from our current email address only, ie
> mailto:[log in to unmask] They are not yet up on our Website
> nor at the email address quoted below, which will be the new address for
> Customer Registration and Sales.
> 
> I apologise that this is a long message, but could not avoid this without
> using attachments, which may have inconvenienced some LIS readers.  
> 
> Many thanks for your continued support and use of BLDSC.
> 
> Trevor Palmer
> Marketing Support
>   
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> EXTRACT FROM FORTHCOMING CUSTOMER UPDATE
> 
> Interlending claims
> Introduction of administration fee for ILL claims from 1st October 2001
> Recent pricing changes have aimed to eliminate as far as possible the
> subsidising of non-core activities by the loan and photocopy service, thus
> allowing us to keep the prices for the standard service as low as
> possible. We are therefore introducing a charge for processing
> interlending claims from 1st October 2001. This is to recover only the
> costs of providing this service, costs that are now significantly lower
> because of the introduction of the new customer accounts. The charge will
> be 10p per satisfied supply and will be levied on the borrower, either as
> a supplement on the price of the BL Interlibrary Request Form (i.e. £2.00
> per pack of 20) or as an additional charge when debiting supplies from
> locations.
> 
> Please note that this does not affect the postal forms used to order items
> from the BLDSC.
> 
> Instructions for claims
> As mentioned earlier in this Update, the new Directory of Library Codes
> (DLC) will have more specific instructions on how to claim from the BLDSC
> for items supplied to other libraries. We have also started to notify
> individual customers of the correct procedures when we receive incorrect
> documentation. During this year of transition, we have received claims
> consisting of various types of forms on which the correct prices have not
> always been marked. These have taken us longer than normal to deal with
> and unfortunately we now have a backlog of claims to process. It will help
> us to process your claims more quickly if they are in the format we
> specify. We especially ask you to consider using the templates we have
> produced to accompany submitted claims; these are available on our website
> or on request from Account Enquiries (CRS). In the meantime, we ask for
> your patience while we clear the backlog of claims and ask that you read
> the instruction in the new DLC when it arrives.
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> EXTRACT FROM FORTHCOMING DIRECTORY OF LIBRARY CODES
> 
> 
> HOW TO PROCESS PAYMENTS THROUGH BLDSC 
> 
> NOTES FOR SUPPLIERS AND BORROWERS
> 
> 
> BLDSC offers a service whereby we process payments for third party
> interlending. Regardless of your other charging arrangements for borrowing
> within or between regions, for other suitable requests you can choose BL
> to process the payment. The contract remains between supplier and
> requester, and prices must be agreed between the parties; BLDSC is purely
> processing the payment on instruction from the supplier. BLDSC charges a
> small adminstration fee to cover the costs of providing this service.
> 
> There are two ways to use the service, and you must first consult the
> charging policy of potential suppliers before proceeding (see page     ).
> The distinction between the two methods is that the BL Interlibrary
> Request form process is at a fixed price, equivalent to BLDSC's prevailing
> loan and photocopy charges, whilst the non BL form-based process can be at
> any price agreed between the parties.
> 
> 
> The BL Interlibrary Request Form  
> 
> Borrowers can buy stocks of BL Interlibrary loan or photocopy request
> forms at BLDSC's prevailing prices plus an adminstration fee. These forms
> can only be used for requesting between libraries, not for requesting from
> BLDSC. The price (excluding the administration fee) is printed on the
> form. After checking that a potential supplier accepts BL Interlibrary
> request forms, complete the form with bibliographic details and your BLDSC
> Customer Code and send it to the supplier. The form must be sent to the
> supplier; you cannot just quote the request number printed on the form. If
> the supplier can satisfy the request, they will send the item and keep the
> form. If they cannot supply the item, they will return the form, which can
> then be sent to another supplier if required. 
> 
> In principle, BL Interlibrary request forms can be used at any time as
> long as the supplier is happy to supply at the price quoted on the form.
> However, most suppliers will wish to keep their charges in line with
> BLDSC's and will expect a form with the latest price. If you are in any
> doubt, please contact the supplier before sending the form. When BLDSC
> alters its prices, we will stop selling the old priced forms and start
> selling forms at the new price. Please see section 'How to claim from
> BLDSC' for how to redeem unsuccessful or unused forms for credit. 
> 
> Suppliers then redeem batches of C-copies of forms to BLDSC for credit to
> their  account at the rates quoted on the forms (please see section 'How
> to claim from BLDSC' for more details).     
> 
> Non BL form-based claims
> 
> Increasingly, libraries are automating their interlending processes and no
> longer send paper requests to suppliers. Also, some libraries prefer to
> set their own charges not in line with BLDSC's. After agreeing or knowing
> suppliers' charges, libraries can send requests in their chosen format to
> the supplier. You must quote your DSC Customer Code and allocate a request
> reference number on each request, because at this stage you are giving a
> mandate to the supplier to instruct BLDSC to debit your account with the
> agreed charge if the item is supplied. Suppliers then return a claim to
> BLDSC for supplied items, listing charges, requesting libraries' DSC
> Customer Code and request reference number (please see section 'How to
> claim from BLDSC' for more details). BLDSC will credit the supplier the
> total amount of the claim and debit individual requesting libraries
> accordingly. Borrowers should keep a record of the request reference
> number of supplied items so they can match them to the charges when they
> appear on their usage statement. A small administration fee covering the
> cost of the service will be added to each item charged.  
> 
> 
> HOW TO CLAIM FROM BLSDC
> 
> Please clearly separate BL form-based claims from non BL form-based
> claims.
> 
> 
> Returning BL Interlibrary Request Forms
> 
> Suppliers
> 
> Please batch and return C-copies for satisfied requests to BLDSC on a
> regular basis, monthly for large suppliers and quarterly for smaller
> suppliers. They must in any case be returned within one year of the
> original application. 
> 
> Please separate loan forms from photocopy forms and, within each category,
> batch forms of the same price (ie. if you are returning old priced forms
> together with current forms). We recommend you use the BLDSC template,
> available on our website or by email on request (please see below for
> details), to provide a summary listing to accompany the returned forms.
> BLDSC will credit your DSC account with the total value, including an
> amount for VAT for photocopy forms. If you are a regular net lender, ie
> your supplies to other libraries are regularly more than your use of
> BLDSC, we can arrange for payments to be made to you in the form of a Bank
> Transfer (please clearly mark your claim). 
> 
> Borrowers
> 
> Stocks of unused or failed BL forms can be returned to BLDSC at any time.
> We will credit your DSC account with the face value of each form,
> including VAT on photocopy forms.
> 
> 
> Non BL form-based claims
> 
> Suppliers
> 
> Please send non BL form-based claims to BLDSC on a monthly basis;
> requesting libraries will expect charges to be made promptly to their
> account. 
> 
> Your claim must quote your own DSC Customer Code and provide the following
> information for each satisfied request:
> 
> *     requester's DSC Customer Code
> *     request reference number given by requester
> *     loan or photocopy
> *     price, excluding VAT
> 
> So that we can process claims as efficiently as possible, we strongly
> recommend you provide a listing of all items supplied within each
> category, rather than individual returns/forms for each item supplied. We
> recommend you use the BLDSC template, available on our website or by email
> on request (please see details below), which you can email to us. If you
> prefer to send individual item returns, you must provide the mandatory
> information above on each individual return, even for recognised schemes
> such as CONARLS IRU. If you send a listing with individual returns, we
> will only use the listing to process the claim. We reserve the right to
> return incomplete or incorrect claims.
> 
> We will credit your DSC account with the total value of the claim,
> including VAT for photocopy supplies. If you quote a claim reference
> number for each claim, we will quote this on your monthly credit
> statement. If you are a regular net lender, ie your supplies to other
> libraries are regularly more than your use of BLDSC, we can arrange for
> payments to be made to you in the form of a Bank Transfer (please clearly
> mark your claim). 
> 
> 
> BLDSC template for claims
> 
> Two templates are available, either on our website or by email on request.
> One acts as a summary to accompany returned BL forms and the other
> provides a full listing of all items in a non BL form-based claim. The
> former has to be posted together with the BL forms, but the latter is
> designed to be used electronically, with additional lines being created as
> necessary, and emailed to BLDSC. Templates are available from
> [log in to unmask] or on the BL website.  
> 
> 
*********************************************************************
The information contained in this e-mail is confidential and may be 
legally privileged. It is intended for the addressee(s) only. If you 
are not the intended recipient, please delete this e-mail and notify 
the [log in to unmask] : The contents of this e-mail must not be 
disclosed or copied without the sender's consent. 

The statements and opinions expressed in this message are those of 
the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the British 
Library. The British Library does not take any responsibility for 
the views of the author. 
*********************************************************************