Coffman and ILL

[CD McLean]

> Hi,

I work as a solo librarian in a corporate library and ILL is very important, but as Linda Absher pointed out, most patrons know nothing about or are very confused about how it works.

One of Linda's points was:
3.)  The uncertainty/arcaneness of ILL:  after you offer the service, the first question generally is "when can I get it?"  I then find I lose the patron's interest when I try to explain how the system works, and how it's up to our workload, the other library's workload, etc.  Most companies offer their customers a ballpark estimate as to when they'll receive an item--we as a profession don't.  Does that make it acceptable?
<snip>

This point really gets to the heart of my problem with the current ILL system.  Most of the libraries will only deal with you in writing.  So that means I have to use snail mail and get a snail mail reply on something my engineer needs yesterday.  It has only been recently that the libraries around me have been accepting a faxed ILL form.  They seem to be ignoring the technology that could actually generate them some money.  If, as I am beginning to understand, Coffman's proposal is more profit driven (which in and of itself is
not a bad thing), why can't the compromise be that those who want it faster and are willing to pay for it, can get it faster?  What I see is that everyone is forced to wait in the snail mail line.  I would gladly pay to have my ILL expedited for those rush needs and I would gladly wait for snail mail on those items of lesser importance.  The libraries could still provide the free ILL and also make money by providing a fee-based service based on priority levels alone.

But what I really want to see is online acceptance of ILL requests.  I would like to see a system that acknowledges my request, when it was received, what the estimated ship out date is and also notifies me when it gets shipped.  I would like to be given a tracking number that I can use to see where my ILL request is in the queue.  All of these things are possible.

I hope one day they happen.  Stepping off my soapbox now...

CD

--
  CD McLean
  Research Librarian/Library Services Manager
  Paradyne Corp.

  cmclean at paradyne.com
  8545 126th Ave. N.
  Largo, FL  33773
  727-530-8206 (phone)  727-532-5949 (fax)

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Patty Zurbrick and I will be running the Disney marathon
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Thanks, cd mclean
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