8th Interlending and Document Supply International Conference, Canberra Australia 28-31 October 2003
 



End-user initiated interloans: placebo or panacea?

Shona McCartin and David Reid

Abstract | Paper in [PDF] Portable Document Format (PDF)
Presentation in Microsoft® PowerPoint® format

The presenters will report on a pilot project that enabled end-user patrons to submit their own interloan requests. Lincoln University and the National Library of New Zealand undertook this project jointly between October 2002 and January 2003. It was promoted to Lincoln's users as DIY-Interloans (Do-it-Yourself-Interloans). This work was foreshadowed in the Te Puna Strategic Direction document in 2000 that identified a future initiative to "Investigate options for responding to emergent demands for direct use of National Library products and services." Further impetus came from the strong theme expressed at the 7th International Interlending and Document Supply Conference of end-user initiation of requests.

This paper will describe the pilot project and its guiding principles within the context of the New Zealand's national library utility, Te Puna. The authors will address a number of issues:

  • The constraints of end-user mediated interloans within a utility environment
  • The resulting decisions reached
  • The impacts of the pilot
  • Trends that emerged
  • What end-users thought of the process, and
  • The final report and its recommendations.

Lastly the authors will address the issue of the future for end-user initiated requests in the New Zealand context.

 

 

 
  National Library of Australia Australian Library and Information Association International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions