Dear all
I was reminded yesterday as the subject of short loan was raised again
via this list, to send my summary of responses from my questions back in
February. I hope they may prove useful if you are carrying out similar
reviews in your institution. I'm in the stages of putting together my
final report and would be pleased to hear from anyone who has any
additional comments.
I received 8 responses in total to the following questions:
1. What loan periods do you class as 'short loan' in your institution?
Ranged from 2 hours, 3 hours, 6 hours, 7 hours, 1 day (or "overnight"),
2 days, 7 days
2. How do you decide which items are placed into a short or restricted
loan category?
Most decisions linked to reading lists and perceived "high demand"
course material
Other reasons include at the request of academic staff, response to high
numbers of reservations, and occasional reasons such as old material
which may be OOP & hard to replace
One institution allows students to request material to be placed in a
short loan collection
3. Do you operate a secure short loan area? (i.e. always staffed, or
items brought out on request?)
Open access (1)
Open access but close to library issue/helpdesk (2)
Open access with security gate (2)
Secure area (1)
Kept behind issue desk and brought out on request from users (1)
Staffed as far as poss but staff may be called to other parts of the
library at times (1)
4. Do you have any particular policy regarding short loan material?
No particular agreements or policies regarding short loan - only as part
of general stock policies that consideration is given to appropriate
loan categories
Most restrict number of these items that may be borrowed at one time,
prevent renewals, and apply high(er) fines for late returns
Also access to the material is generally restricted to staff and
students of the institution
One institution indicated that short loan items will also be bought as
ebooks if available
5. Is the provision of online content (i.e. ebooks, digitising material
under the CLA licence) reducing the need for short loan in your
institution?
This is definitely starting to have an impact and most respondents
reported a reduction in collections of offprints/photocopies
One respondent from an arts and humanities library said the collection
wasn't particularly affected by online content but their science and
engineering library had no short loan collection
Short loan book collections are still fairly significant although most
are expecting a reduction with the growth of ebooks
Many thanks to those who responded,
Helen
Helen Curtis
Academic Resource Librarian - SCIT
Harrison Learning Centre
University of Wolverhampton
St Peter's Square
Wolverhampton
WV1 1RH
Phone: (01902) 323561
Email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Blog: http://scitblog.wordpress.com <http://scitblog.wordpress.com/>
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