As I see it the main reason some libraries are being deluged with requests
is because if the increasing reliance by all ILL staff on COPAC. Since
the BL started charging for location searches our requests from other
libraries have dropped to almost nothing (people used to get given our
holdings for non-current books from the card catalogues at Boston Spa.)
Is this also the experience of other non-CURL universities?
We rather miss the income from these loans and relish the idea of
what it must be like to be a net lender rather than a net borrower and
therefore cover the cost of our own ILL requests.
Perhaps all interlending staff should be encouraging the establishment of
the National Union Catalogue or, indeed, the expansion of the membership
of CURL. In this way the work load (and the money!) could be spread round
a little more evenly.
Regards,
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Neil Dalley
Document Delivery Co-ordinator
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Inter-Library Loans Tel. (0118) 931 8786
Reading University Library
PO Box 223
Whiteknights
READING
RG6 6AE
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