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



Unforseen opportunity: improved services migrate from document supply to distance education

Kathryn Pearson

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

The late 1990's and early 2000's have seen a fundamental shift in higher education in Australia. Gone are the days when the customer was a nuisance and the shared belief of librarians was to avoid spoonfeeding and concentrate on educating. Partly due to the information explosion and partly due to changed economic circumstances in Australian higher education, a strong ethos of customer service and ease of access has emerged in university libraries. Whilst the push for information literacy is stronger than ever, there is a new recognition that students have busy lives, often juggling family, study and work. Librarians are realising that it is a responsibility to provide quick and easy access to information, particularly for postgraduate students.

Macquarie University Library has been working on the LIDDAS project since it's inception as a way of automating the interlibrary loan procedure, streamlining interlibrary loan work and improving services to customers. The project has been lengthy due to the complexity of the software. However, the software has now been implemented in Document Supply and is working well.

The success of the LIDDAS implementation has prompted us to think of other applications for the software. From a starting point of wanting to offer better turnaround time for our distance education students, we are now beginning to use the vdx software to offer improved services to all postgraduate students, whether they are distance education students or they live down the road.

This paper discusses the progress of the LIDDAS project and looks at the way the software developed for this project is now affording opportunities for enhanced service delivery beyond the narrow confines of interlibrary loan.

 

 

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