Hello All
Thank you all for your replies to my query re electronic user request
forms for ILLs, submitted on 7 November. What follows is my own attempt
to summarise the gist of these, and should not be taken as in any way
definitive!
Here at TVU, we were asked by a member of staff very recently to look
into it. It was this that prompted my request to lis-link, and we are
therefore at the very early stages of investigating the issue. But it is
clearly a hot potato.
To begin, those who haven't seen it should look at Cilip's page on this:
http://www.cilip.org.uk/professionalguidance/copyright/advice/e-signatur
es.htm
A number of libraries have PDF forms to download on their website or
intranet, but still require these to be submitted in conventional form
with a signature on paper. This is strictly speaking simply an
alternative way of making the paper form available to users.
I had a long and detailed response from one academic library service
that is now using electronic signatures, but which specifically
requested me not to forward it to others. This referred to "at least 3"
other universities planning to implement digital signatures, but it
seems there is a great deal of nervousness about showing their hand. I'm
told also that the BL is planning to introduce a system for accepting
digital signatures early in 2006, but no-one from the BL itself has
actually confirmed this to me.
The same source referred to Statutory Instrument 2002 no 318: The
Electronic Signatures Regulations 2002, which I have not yet seen.
Some libraries are looking at ways of generating ILL requests from their
LMS, and this is probably the first thing we will investigate. The
stumbling block is that of electronic signatures, and the difficulty of
setting up a means of authenticating and recording these that would be
regarded as sufficiently robust to satisfy the legal requirements. It
does not appear that there is yet a generally agreed solution to this
(though at least one library service believes they have done it to their
own satisfaction).
A true "electronic signature" must be capable of being shown to be
unique, authentic, and linked both to the individual request details and
to a deliberate action by the user acknowledging the copyright
declaration (typing this response is recommended, rather than simply
clicking a check-box). All of these elements must be capable of being
recorded for future reference in the LMS (or exported to an equivalent
database) and the data protected from unauthorised access or
manipulation.
Finally, I had the following view expressed by Charles Oppenheim in
respect of digital signatures: "to be acceptable, it must involve a true
digital signature, with high levels of encryption and authentication
built in. Standard e-mail systems do not offer this, but those in high
security organisations, such as GCHQ, do!"
No wonder many respondents said they were sticking to paper for the time
being!
Thanks again
Mike
______________
Mike Sharrocks
Centre Manager
Paul Hamlyn Learning Resource Centre
Thames Valley University
Wellington Street
Slough SL1 1YG
01753 697525
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Sharrocks
Sent: 07 November 2005 12:23
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: ILL electronic forms
I would be interested to know which libraries have set up some kind of
system for accepting ILL requests from users electronically or by email?
- Or, equally, if you have considered this and decided not to set up
such a system, that too would be useful to know.
If you have an electronic request form, is this generated by your
library management system, or is it one you have developed yourselves?
There was some discussion a while ago around the question of whether
electronic signatures can be accepted for copyright purposes. As far as
I can now discover on a quick search, we are still required to obtain
from the end-user a signed copyright declaration (on paper). Does anyone
know if this has changed? The BL still has declaration forms to download
from its website, and there doesn't appear to be an electronic
alternative.
Many thanks
Mike Sharrocks
______________
Mike Sharrocks
Centre Manager
Paul Hamlyn Learning Resource Centre
Thames Valley University
Wellington Street
Slough SL1 1YG
01753 697525
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