www.le.ac.uk

You Only Lend Twice (or so it

seems)

Spying into the future of interlendingGareth J JohnsonDocument Supply & Repository ManagerDavid Wilson LibraryUniversity of Leicester

13 May 2011

Slides: www.slideshare.net/GazJJohnson/

DWL Facts• Multi-award winning• 1500 User spaces• 38km shelving• 1M+ volumes on

shelves• 350 PCs + wireless

network• 13 Group study rooms• Graduate Media Zoo• 2 IT training suites• Also houses Careers,

Accessibility & Student Learning Deptswww.le.ac.uk/li/about/building/factsandfigures.htm

From a View to a Kill

• Difficult times for libraries as well as ILL services

• Increasing patron demands for instant access

• Increasing electronic resource adding complexity

• Global and local financial budgetary issues

• Decrease in patron demands across the country

• BL service levels dropping during refurbishment

For Your Eyes Only

• Poll of the interlending community– Not rigorous but substantive– Take the temperature of the community

• Asked for input on current and future trends– Looked at requesting and lending– How can we meet them?– Are there opportunities as well as issues

Patron Request Levels

A significant increase (>+20%)

A moderate increase (+5-20%)

Little to no significant changeA moderate decrease (-5-20% on previous years)

A significant decrease (>-20% on previous years)

0.0%

50.0%

100.0%

Source: ILL Trends Survey (2011)

Interlending Requests Levels

A significant increase (>+20%)

A moderate increase (+5-20%)

Little to no significant changeA moderate decrease (-5-20% on previous years)

A significant decrease (>-20% on previous years)

0.0%

50.0%

Source: ILL Trends Survey (2011)

Goldfinger

• Reducing interlending services and staff – Perceived as a soft target for “savings”?– Loss of staff expertise overlooked– Loss of unique revenue recovery/generation

• Budgets reduction means acquisitions decrease– But this increases the need for interlending

• Introducing or raising patron charges for ILL– Increases cost recovery but harms service image– Unis charge much more than Public libraries

GoldenEye

• Offsets a portion of ILL costs– University of Edinburgh reportedly cost neutral

for ILL

• Knock on from BL asbestos work– Temporary but sustained through to 2012– Helps reinforce key organisational role of

interlending

• Highlights often rare or unusual collections– Local studies material and genealogical

resources especially valuable– Interlending should be an attractive proposition

for a library

On Her Majesty’s Interlending Service• British Library not immune to budget cuts

– Strategic aims to do “more with less”– Cuts in acquisitions budgets– Decline in supply

• Charges not expected to rise in 2011/12– But seeking to increase revenue streams elsewhere

• New ILL Management system rolling out this month aiming to make ILL with them easier

• Competition from Publishers and other Suppliers

• More electronic document supply

Dr(m) No!

• DRM – one of the biggest pains for end users– Software woes and time limits use for patrons– FileOpen an improvement for electronic

documents

• Digital objects not readily lonable– Confusion over licenses and rights– Use of ERM or local databases but nothing

central

• Frustration over lack of supply from interlenders– Aware of time and staff constraints– Encouragement to check licenses loan– Involvement in big deal discussions?

Too Hot to Handle

• Copyright rules being reviewed– But aim is to help business grow not enhance

interlending– Lobbying role for professional organisations

(e.g. FIL, CILIP, NWLIP etc)

• Digital signatures for document supply– Policy and technology challenges– Major boost to end users satisfaction– Saves storing extensive paper records

And It strikes, like Thunderball

• EThOS a curate’s egg of a service– Helps access to theses but reduces DS work– Service not actively marketed by the BL– Questions over the future sustainability post-review

• Open access repositories and journals– Not clear how well these are being used by patrons

or interlenders for supply– Speed and ease of access advantage over concerns

over validity of content– Location of items for free supply to users a benefit

The World is Not Enough

• Role in support and exchange of best practice– Outside of “public” or “educational” silos

• Lobbying & advocacy to senior decision makers– An external voice can be a powerful persuader– Conarls, FIL, BL etc can all provide input

• The power of the IFLA scheme to supply– Local collaborations agreements to reduce costs

• Provision of benchmarks and standards– Your organisation must have these services

because…

The Man with the Golden Gun?

• Threats an opportunity to bring change– Can we take more risks if there’s less to lose?– Doing nothing or more of the same is not a

viable option

• The golden shot– Revisiting tired/redundant workflows or

procedures– If it isn’t essential why are you still doing it?

• Advocating what we do whenever, wherever possible– Essentially for proving the interlending case– Demonstrating ROI, bang for the buck or USP

Think Tank

• In small groups discuss and agree the following points1. Your current interlending service

priorities2. The main threats or challenges you face

today3. The opportunities that this allows– Rank the top 5

My Answers

1. Decreasing patron requests

2. Uncertain/reduced library budgets

3. Increasing patron service level expectations

4. Competing library staffing/service demands

1. Maintain or increase current service standards

2. Increase materials supplied electronically

3. Provide electronic signatures

4. Manage integration of Clinical interlending

5. Remove paper based workflows where possible

Priorities ThreatsIncreased staff time

to deal with outgoing loans (£)

Use evidence to demonstrate to

management how we meet & exceed

targets

Eliminate non-core activities, focus on

major priorities, embrace change

Demonstrate flexibility of my team across the library service

A Quantum of Solace• There are major challenges to overcome

– Embrace the challenges as an opportunities to evolve our services

• Must be honest about out limitations – But evangelistic about our unique service strengths

• Have to be able to demonstrate the ROI and VFM we offer– ILL delivers what your local collections can’t afford

– Backed with facts and figures

• The interlending community itself is a major resource– Provision of training and experience sharing is crucial

– Reduce costs through collaboration and even emotional support

"Give me the old firing range any day quartermaster“

Bond

"Well, it is called the future. Get used to it!“

Q

You Know My Name

• Gareth J Johnson, DS&R Manager

– Vice Chair FIL, Chair UKCoRR,

CILIP Councillor, HEA Fellow

– Email: gjj6@le.ac.uk

– Tel: 0116-252-2039

– Web 2/Twitter: llordllama

– Slides: www.slideshare.net/GazJJohnson/