Dear all
we see ILL as in integral part of our whole acquisitions process taking the middle ground between satisfying reservations for items in our collection and actually purchasing the items. I suppose it helps that ILL and Acquisitions all come out of the same budget for acquiring published information so unlike UEA we have no obstacles in the way. The way we think of it is that when we receive a request from of our users they don't really care where we get it from ... just as long as we get hold of it.
Searching Amazon and the like is a natural part of the ILL process (as is checking the www to see if items are available for free - Google Books alone has satisfied a number of requests for those who are prepared to read the book off their PC screen). We have a very flexible formula for deciding whether to go for a BL loan or not. If the book cost £20 or less we buy the book, no questions asked (we take into account the cost of a BL loan, a BL auto renewal and the cost of the total postage of the item). If the book is in the £20-50 range we look at how long the user needs the item for and how relevant it is to the scope of our collection.
We never seem to have a problem with delivery times, even from those online bookshops who are based overseas. ILL stalwarts may put the argument that purchasing the books will result in other costs such as processing the purchased book etc but then there are many hidden costs in ILL such as chasing users for books that need returning to BL, the £120 cost for a lost BL item (especially annoying when the book only cost a fiver!) and having to process renewals.
Just to add, we are extremely lucky I guess that every member of staff has a VISA procurement card so orders are immediate.
Sean A. Austin
Library Services Advisor
(ILL & Document Delivery)
Information Services Unit (ISU)
Environment Agency
Bristol
>>> [log in to unmask] 20/07/2006 18:01:41 >>>
Hello ILL community,
We generally get most of our ILLs from the British L ibrary or other
institutions who charge roughly the same as the BL. However
occassionally when searching for items for readers I find them on
sites like Amazon etc at prices cheaper than the cost of a BL loan. Do
other folk out there ever just buy copies of items in these
circumstances and supply them to their readers? or buy them and add
them to stock?
Are there any terrible unforeseen implications of doing this?
thanks,
Alan
Alan Doherty
Interlibrary Loans
Perry Library
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