Focus on Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
Interlibrary loan (ILL) supplements the library’s collection by obtaining material needed for teaching and learning that are not owned by the library or available through Summit. It continues to be an important service as users become aware of publications through an array of discovery tools, including Puget Sound WorldCat, licensed research databases, and Google Scholar. Skyrocketing journal prices, new publishing models, a modest operating budget, and an increase in publishing output have also contributed to the library’s reliance on interlibrary loan to fill gaps in the collection.
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Last year ILL staff processed 7,301 interlibrary loan transactions. Users borrowed a wide range of resources, from books and music scores to films and conference proceedings. However, two out of every three requests were articles. The most requested journals were Quartenary Science Reviews and Manual Therapy, tied at 12 requests for each title. Other journals with a high number of requests include: Journal of Spine Cord Medicine, Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, Biological Psychiatry, Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, Aquatic Botany, Freshwater Biology, and Laryngoscope. About 95% of all articles are delivered electronically to the user’s ILLiad account.
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Students were the largest group of ILL users, representing 82% of the total number. Our overall fill rate for ILL was 66%. About 17% of the requests were cancelled because the library already owned the item and it was available. Other reasons for unfilled requests include: all possible sources were exhausted; the request could not be filled by the deadline; and the request was cancelled by the user.
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The bubble chart to the left shows a breakdown of interlibrary loan transactions by academic departments who submitted 200 or more requests last year. Submissions from faculty and students were included. By moving the mouse over a circle, you will see three numbers representing article requests, loans, and the total. For example, Psychology is the large blue circle on the chart. The department submitted 993 requests. Of those, 810 were articles and 183 were loans. The legend to the right of the chart lists the ranking of departments by number of requests. |
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Lending Libraries
This word cloud represents the 16 lending institutions from which we borrowed 50 or more items during the previous year. The University of Oregon tops the list with 333 filled requests. Rounding out the top five are Whitman College, Portland State University, University of Idaho, and Western Washington University. |
Cost
While largely invisible to the user, there are numerous costs associated with interlibrary loan. Staffing, software, equipment, supplies, and postage are needed to carry out daily operations. In addition, the library may incur costs from the lending library if there is no reciprocal borrowing agreement. Health Sciences libraries, large metropolitan public libraries, and research institutions typically charge fees. Last year the average cost was $14.00 per transaction for those libraries that charged fees. If an article is requested from the same journal five times within the last five years, the library also pays a copyright fee to the publisher. Fees vary by publisher and number of pages. In 2012 the library paid nearly $500.00 in copyright fees, ranging from $3.15 to $87.50.
–Lori Ricigliano, assisted by Jada Pelger
Need Information? Don’t forget the Collins Memorial Library Database List A-Z
Questions? Contact your liaison librarian
Comments: Contact Jane Carlin, Library Director
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