Dear Ros,

Here at TalNet we made a policy decision not to use BLDSC's location
service when they changed their pricing structure.  Instead we send
stock searches only to the BLDSC and depend on finding our own locations
(using a variety of tools, including Talisbase, Unityweb, COPAC)
thereafter.  This has not led to a significant increase in work or a
delay in obtaining requests but then, compared to yourselves and other
academic libraries, we probably deal with a relatively small amount of
ILLs (approx 4000 a year).  Just as well since there are only two of us
involved in ILL at TalNet!  
The benefit of only sending stock searches is not just financial - BLDSC
are usually quick to send failed requests back and, now we're
subscribing directly to Unityweb rather than going through our region,
we can then try other locations the same day using e-mail for urgent
requests and the post for the rest.  I'm still struggling with how to
best "marry" the Talis Interlending Module with Unityweb's e-mail based
requesting system but it's early days... [Incidently if anyone out there
using both systems has any tips to offer I'd be grateful!].  There's not
a lot one can do with requests that get passed on to London.  I
understand from Helen Parnaby that the BL's own internal system can only
cope with a certain amount of requests at a time.  
Finding our own locations spreads out the ILLs among different locations
and makes holdups harder to notice I suppose.  However it also enables
us to make our own decisions on where to send requests according to our
previous experiences with certain locations - which the BLDSC locations
service also allows one to do but at a price.  The subscription to
Unityweb is not cheap (£1695) but allows unlimited location searches and
is proving a good alternative bibliographic checking tool to Talisbase
and COPAC.  

I realise this doesn't answer your query directly but I thought you
might like my thoughts on the subject!  What about asking CONARLS (given
that they already operate the URL scheme)?  However, I suppose, like the
rest of us, they're just as short of staff and resources ...

Looking forward to hearing what other people think.

 
Eleri Jones
TalNet,
Caernarfon Library,
Pavilion Road,
Caernarfon
LL55 1AS
Tel:  01286 679843
Fax: 01286 671137
E-mail: [log in to unmask]






-----Original Message-----
From: M Ros Doig [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 21 March 2002 13:16
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Holdups at BLDSC


Dear All
We have been experiencing considerable delays with location searches at
BLDSC and  items passed to the London libraries.
As a result we have decided to restrict our requests to stock searches
only - though I don't suppose this will prevent a request going on to
London but at least if British Library don't have it anywhere we can
find our own locations subsequently. All this is rather unfortunate in
our case because at our Kedleston Road site we are struggling with a
staffing shortage and extra work is not what we're looking for right
now!
Mindful of other messages posted to this list about backlogs of requests
and the unevenness in use of alternative locations, I wonder if there is
a need for a sort of collective ILL roundup on a regular basis of
information about supply and demand and which libraries to avoid at
certain times?
I'm not necessarily offering to make myself the focal point of such a
publication but if you think this would be a useful idea  to follow up,
can anyone suggest an already existing organisation that might like to
take this on? Or at least under whose auspices someone could do the
job?? Or are we all too busy????????
Comments to the list please.
Best Wishes


Ros Doig
Serials & Inter-lending Librarian
University of Derby
Learning Centre
Kedleston Road
Derby 
DE22 1GB

Tel. +44 1332 591204 
Fax. +44 1332 622773
Email M.R.Doig@Derby .ac.uk



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