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Interlibrary Loan Resource Sharing (ILRS) code review

The ILRS code is currently under review. The Australian Library and Information Association Interlibrary Loan Expert Advisor Group www.alia.org.au/governance/committees/interlibrary.lending/ has prepared a paper proposing a number of changes and now seeks advice on the charging structure.

At the final meeting of the National Resource Sharing Working Group and Policy Committee a number of issues in interlending were identified for further development and consideration www.nla.gov.au/initiatives/nrswg/finalforum.html, one of the most important being a review the ILRS code. The current code was developed in 2001 with the support and consultation of the broader library community. In 2003 minor changes were proposed and accepted. However feedback received from a number of people suggested it was time to consider a fuller review of the code, taking into account increases in costs, the expectation of faster turnaround times and a need to further refine the principles underpinning the ILL process. The ALIA ILL EAG accepted the task of reviewing the code and in July a paper www.alia.org.au/interlibrary.lending/code.review.html was released for comment. Information on the review was published broadly and comments for the first round of consultation closed on 31 August.

So what happens next? The ALIA ILL EAG will amalgamate all of the comments received and, based on these, amendments to the current ILRS code will be proposed. The proposed changes will then be made available for a further round of consultation and the group will seek endorsement from CAUL, CASL, ALIA and the National Library to ensure that they meet the library community’s interlibrary loan and document delivery needs.

Margarita Moreno