Dear all,

Towards the end of June, I send an e-mail to both lists seeking information on how academic libraries deal with extended loans for users with a disability.  First and foremost, I would like to thank everyone who responded to my e-mail.  I received a total of 26 responses from universities across the British Isles.  Not all were a response to my original query - 1 was a note of appreciation of extended loans and academic libraries support by a former student while another one was an expression of interest in the feedback as their institution was considering implementing extended loans.  That said I received 24 good replies so here goes with the summary together with a refresher on the questions asked.


Question 1 - Does your library offer extended loans to users with a disability?  If yes, what does this entail?
Not surprisingly all the responses indicated that there library service offered some form of extended loan facility.  The majority of extensions related to 7 day loans which tended to be issued for 2 weeks but in a couple of cases the extension was more generous that this i.e. to 3 or 4 weeks.  There were other variations of these extensions for example a standard loan of 3 weeks became 4 or 6 weeks, overnight loan becoming 2 day loans.  Given that every library uses its own terminology for its individual loan statuses, I may have missed some additional details but from the responses it is clear that there is considerable variation in the length of the extension and also how this impacts on renewals. 




Question 2 - Does this apply to all disabilities or only certain types?

The vast majority of libraries (21 responses) offer extended loans following referral and/or recommendation of the University's disability unit.  Interestingly this type of department is known by a variety of names some of which exclude the term 'disability'.  Three responses were unclear as to what referral/assessment procedure was in place.  Regarding the extent of disabilities eligible, again there was a mixed picture.  Dyslexia and visual impairment were undoubtedly the main disability requiring extended loans although 16 universities extend this facility to all disabilities providing that their referral procedure from the University's disability unit recommends extended loans.

 


Question 3 -  How is this information regarding a user's disability acquired by the library's LMS?  Is it directly imported from student/HR records or is this information manually adjusted by staff?  If the latter, is this library staff or the equivalent of our Student Support & Guidance department?

16 libraries indicated some form of manual update of a user's record on the LMS.  5 libraries had an automated system whereby the data was uploaded overnight from student records into their LMS.  A couple of libraries indicated that the manual update on their LMS consisted of a note on the user's account rather than a different patron type.  The comment was that this approach can create difficulties for self issue and/or self renewal as the note is requires staff intervention to adjust the loan period accordingly.  




Question 4 - Can students/staff directly alter their student/staff record e.g. change address or modify their disability declaration? 

The overwhelming answer was no!  Only certain information such as address could be altered.  No one reported the ability to alter the disability declaration.


Question 5 - What if any problems do you encounter with extended loans?

Problems raised include -

Time consuming to administer - this was raised only where some form of manual intervention was required notably in adjusting dates due to a prompt by the LMS rather than the LMS automatically calculating the due date.  One university library indicated that the item's loan time is altered to facilitate the extended loan therefore self return creates an additional problem.
Queries by students over the apparent discrepancy over due dates i.e. a 7 day loan clearly issued for more than 7 days.
Student expectation with some students arguing that they should be able to renew books after the extended loan period even if there are hold requests against the item.
Disputes arising over student not following procedure regarding disability referrals.  Essentially an expectation that extended loans were automatic instead of a requirement on the part of the student to register with their disability support unit and the extended loan granted as a result of their recommendation.
Difficulties in communication either from the student or other departments with the library to ensure that the Library is aware who needs extended loans
Limitations to the extended loan scheme in that it is restricted to only certain categories of stock and/or limitations to the number of renewals after the initial loan.
Staff training



Summary
As you can the responses indicate that there are numerous ways in which extended loans for students with a disability are administered.  At CCCU we grant extended loans to only certain disabilities where the extra time is deemed useful/essential.  This assessment is made by Student Support & Guidance and the appropriate code is added to the student's record for overnight import into Aleph.  As the codes exists within the user's record, Aleph automatically calculates the extended due date so self service has not had any negative impact.  In the past we have had problems when there has been changes made to the disability coding and there has been a delay in informing Library Services resulting in a failure to import the crucial data.  However we have recently had a couple of cases where students have complained of the loss of their extended loans.  The reason has been due to the fact that students have been able to inadvertently alter their disabled status online.  Apart from the distress it causes students affected, it is generating a false perception that there is a problem with the LMS and consumed valuable staff time investigating the cause.  Needless to say I am campaigning for a review of this situation and your responses are much appreciated.

Hope everyone finds the summary useful and once again, thank you very much.  Wish me luck in the campaign!

Annette




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Annette Linton,
Bibliographic and User Services Librarian,
Canterbury Christ Church University,
North Holmes Road,
Canterbury
CT1 1QU

Ph:   01227 782516
Fax:  01227 863412

E-mail:  [log in to unmask]


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