National Resource Sharing Working Group
Minutes of the Fourth Meeting, 2 March 2000
Attendees
Susan Magnay (Chair) (State Library of New South Wales)
Toby
Burrows (University of Western Australia)
Sue Grimes (Nepean Hospital
Library)
Joan Tucker (CAVAL)
Margaret Gauld (University of
Queensland)
Christine Cother (University of South Australia)
Donna
Runner (Deakin University - Geelong)
Dianne Olleranshaw (Sutherland Shire
Libraries & Information Service)
Charu Sood (National Library of
Australia)
Patricia Woods (Minutes)
Erica Ryan (NLA)
Kristen
Ritchie (NLA)
Apologies
Sharon Howells (University of Newcastle)
Cynthia Love (CSIRO
Information Technology Services)
Dianne Olleranshaw was welcomed to her
first meeting since joining the working group.
1. Minutes of last meeting
Minutes accepted as an accurate record of the meeting.
2. Welcome & Apologies
Apologies were received from Sharon Howells & Cynthia Love
Dianne Ollerenshaw was welcomed to her first meeting since joining the working group.
3. Business arising
Cost implications for ILL
There was a general discussion on GST. It was unclear whether reciprocal ILL arrangements would attract GST. Dianne Ollerenshaw expressed concern that university libraries may not supply small libraries because of financial management issues. Credit cards were seen as a possible solution. Libraries who have difficulty obtaining credit card could use this as an opportunity to lobby their finance areas. SLNSW is considering the use of ILANET as a payment service. University of South Australia were currently considering the vouchers issue. The National Librarys decision to cease accepting vouchers was noted. The Group agreed that GST issues would need to be considered at the individual institution level.
GST implications for ILL will be discussed at the National Resource Sharing Policy Committee Meeting on 23 March.
4. Looking for books report
The Looking for books report has been distributed for comment. The next meeting of the Australian Collections Task Force will be held on 24 March. Susan Magnay will compile the comments received from Group members into a formal response to the Australian Collections Task Force.
Action: Susan Magnay
5. Feedback on NLA meeting with Jennefer Nicholson, ALIA
The NLA and ALIA met to discuss a number of issues, including the NRSWG. It was agreed to change the name of the Steering Committee to the National Resources Sharing Policy Committee (NRSPC) to reflect the policy focus of the Committee.
ALIA will nominate a representative on the NRSPC. The Policy Committees next meeting will be on 23 March.
6. International ILL Taskforce
Charu Sood provided a brief report on the work of the RLG SHARES International ILL Taskforce. The Taskforce will be conducting a survey of large international SHARES lenders. Amongst the issues to be canvassed will be the cost of international ILL for returnables. Survey results will be distributed.
7. Benchmarking study
The NRSWG is to conduct a study to measure the performance and cost of ILL in Australia. The study will be based on the ARL ILL/DD Performance Measures Study conducted by Mary E. Jackson. The report of this study has been published as Measuring the performance of interlibrary loan operations in North American research and college libraries by Mary E. Jackson.
Mary Jackson has agreed to act as a consultant for the Australian study. A draft contract has been drawn up by the NLA and sent to Mary Jackson.
Charu Sood and Kristen Ritchie are currently checking the study to identify changes needed to adapt the ARL study to for Australian conditions.
The timing of the survey phase of the study was discussed. The original intention was to conduct the study in July, but the meeting considered this undesirable because the implementation of the LIDDAS by many of the potential participants could make the survey results invalid and out of date.
Delaying the study would also provide more time to adjust the study to Australian conditions. Joan Tucker expressed doubts that the LIDDAS would be bedded down by July, Susan Magnay agreed. The second round of LIDDAS will be implemented in September - 20 university libraries will have LIDDAS, with 6-8 of these being in the first round (plus NLA and SLNSW). The Olympics may affect Sydney libraries; for example SLNSW will be a lender of last resort at this time. The meeting suggested that late September/early October would be the best time Charu Sood will discuss this with the Coordination Support Branch of the NLA.
Action: Charu Sood
Mary Jackson has agreed to visit Australia to help to develop strategies for re-engineering ILL based on the study outcomes. The suggested timing for the visit was April 2001; this may need to be revisited if the survey is delayed. The suggestion was made that it would be useful if her visit could be arranged around a major conference.
8. 'In the mail' report
Feedback from various groups suggests that the In the mail report has not been widely read. Susan Magnay and Dianne Ollerenshaw reported that the report had provoked discussion amongst public libraries on the costs of sending by mail or library van. The MPLA Working Group on Document Delivery was considering conducting a survey of costs of ILL delivery methods including the van service.
The group then discussed the recommendations of the report (paragraph 11 of the Report):
1. The indicative delivery times to 'within State/Territory' locations and to interstate locations should be taken into consideration in the development of national turnaround time standards for ILL services.
This will be taken into account in the work of the Standards Committee.
2. That consideration be given to developing an instrument (checklist/toolkit) for libraries to use for choosing an appropriate postal carrier and service.
The decision is often not made by the library, however, the meeting thought a checklist would be useful to provide input to the process and influence decisions. If the checklist has the support of a national group (such as NRSWG), it would have added weight.
Action: Kristen Ritchie to develop a draft list for comment. Ideas for the list should be sent to Kristen.
3. That consideration be given to developing an evaluation tool for delivery times which could be used by libraries to measure the performance of carriers (and which may be able to be incorporated into a contract with postal carriers).
This is related to recommendation 2.
Action: Kristen Ritchie to develop a draft.
9. Electronic Resources Working Group
Toby Burrows is on the Expert Advisory Group on Access to Electronic Resources. The terms of reference were read to the meeting. The main issue for the NRSWG is how to record the holdings of electronic journals and their availability/non availability for ILL.
10. Inter Library Resource Sharing Directory
Erica Ryan gave a brief description of the ILRS redevelopment project. The new service will use the same software as ALG, and will have a similar look. It will be a separate product, but with links from ALG. Libraries will be able to update their own records. A message will be sent to various discussion lists seeking suggestions from libraries for enhancements and changes from the existing online product. Any comments from the Working Group should be passed to Erica. An email discussion list will be set up, with a searchable archive. A test system will be available June/July, with an August 2000 release expected.
11. ALIA Conference related activities
The meeting discussed the desirability of holding an activity in conjunction with the ALIA Conference. The meeting decided that consultation, particularly on the Standards paper, would be better carried out at the State/local level, which would allow input from a wider audience. It was agreed not to hold a session in conjunction with the ALIA conference.
12. ILL Standards Committee
Membership of the Committee has been broadened to include the following additional members: Julie Wilson, Bernadine Hardine and Gil Darby. As ANSTO is a CSIRO library and Cynthia Love (CSIRO) is already on the Committee, Sandra Gorringe (ANSTO) has withdrawn.
The Committee has commenced work by looking at existing ILL codes of the U.S., Canada, IFLA.
13. Other business
Jan Fullerton has sent a letter to the ALIA executive, CAUL and CASL members to bring them up to date on the work of the NRSWG. The group has been given endorsement by the peak bodies. Several messages have been received from university libraries that support the work of the Group.
Action: Susan Magnay to circulate copies of correspondence.
Joan Tucker has resigned from the National Resource Sharing Working Group for personal reasons.
14. Dates for future meetings
Dates for teleconference are:
6 April 2000 Thursday 2 p.m.
11 May 2000 Thursday 2 p.m.
Face to face meeting:
Tentative dates: Either 14 July or 17 July were seen as possible options
