National Library of Australia  - Gateways

ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 72 | December 2004


Ariel Web – The ADFA and ANL Experience

What is Ariel Web delivery?  It’s a wonderful way of getting documents easily and quickly to end users which saves both time and paper. Using the Ariel 3.4 software to scan, we place a copy of the document on our website and email the end user, giving them a pin number with a link back to their document. All the end user needs to do is select the URL link, type in their pin number and email address, and up pops a pdf copy of their request on Adobe 5.0 or above.

Why does  the Australian Defence Force Academy use Ariel Web delivery?
The original version of Ariel decreased the turnaround time for the delivery of articles. There was no more waiting for the post, but it was still necessary to print the documents, package them and send them to our clients through the internal mail or have our clients collect them from the Library, which could some times take days.  Whilst this was an improvement the new version of Ariel offers an enhanced service to our clients. The turnaround time decreased even further. Clients can now access the document from anywhere providing they have Internet access and are pleased with the service as it allows 'just-in-time' delivery. As a supplying library, the use of Ariel has allowed us to reduce supply costs. It is necessary for requesting libraries to have Ariel in order to receive articles. The turnaround time has decreased and paper is saved. Since the introduction of Web delivery we have reduced fax delivery to around 5 per cent.
—Edith Hackworthy, ADFA

Ariel Web delivery at the National Library of Australia
When we introduced Copies Direct, email delivery was one of the options available to users, however we found sending a document to end users as an email attachment via Ariel was problematic, mainly due to the size of the attachment. Many email services do not support emails over one megabytes in size, and users were complaining about file sizes, or not receiving the document at all. Since introducing Ariel Web more than a year ago we have had a few problems to iron out, but generally our end users, from as close as upstairs in our Main Reading Room to the far corners of the world, are pleased with the quality and promptness of the service. Now we are also delivering via Ariel Web to libraries that do not have Ariel.  If you’d like to receive your documents this way, just ask for Ariel Web delivery, provide an email address and you will receive your documents promptly. 
—Sharyn O’Donnell, Manager, Interlending Services

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