RRSI April Future ILL Virtual Conversations – Rethinking Resource Sharing Initiative

Rethinking Resource Sharing Initiative (RRSI) Future of ILL (Walled Gardens?)

RRSI April 8 and 20, 2021 Future ILL Virtual Conversations Summary (pp 1-3)
April 8, 2021 RRSI Virtual Zoom All Submitted Information (pp 4-18)
April 22, 2021 RRSI Virtual Zoom All Submitted Information (pp 19-32)
A few comments submitted via email following RRSI sessions (pp 33-34)

Questions/comments to Lars Leon (lleon@ku.edu), Tom Bruno (tombruno@upenn.edu)

RRSI April 8 and 20, 2021 Future ILL Virtual Conversations summary

Around 170 participants each time with some who attended both. Wild guess of 300 “unique” attendees. Most resource sharing system vendors had at least one participant at one or both sessions.

High level selected themes (considerable number of ideas so the following is missing some but trying to present some themes. See another GoogleDoc for all original raw submissions).

Italics are direct quotes that seemed to illustrate the feelings of a number of people, points to ponder.

How are you feeling

The gamut okay, tired+++, quiet, nervous
Less staff, esp. student assistants
Looking forward to moving to new software
Wondering about what “normal” will be (e.g. volume, staffing, more)
Coming out of the pandemic – not ready to deal with overdues.
Positive about the many new ideas in resource sharing, underwhelmed with the technological options to execute those ideas
I love that this time has shown to the broader community that ILL is vital, but it’s also so, SO exhausting.
Love the camaraderie
Excited about all the possibilities! As bad as the pandemic has been, it’s opened many people’s eyes and minds to different ways of doing things & making quick pivots
Unsure. The cost of OCLC, ILLiad, and RapidILL is high. There is some talk in library admin to switch to something else. I’m not sure that we’d be able to fill requests from these newer walled gardens. Seems like a step backwards to leave OCLC

What’s working

Variety of software listed – ILLiad, Rapid-ILL, docline, OCLC including mention of new Express group, Tipasa, Reprints Desk, Alma RS, Hathi Trust ETAs, IDS, Occam’s Reader Reserves function, OCLC IFM, and more.
OCLC SHARES town halls
Remote desktop work, cloud-based systems like Tipasa
Using ILLiad allowed to turn on a dime – changing workflows/routing rules+
Some quick changes like OCLC symbol notations (20,16, etc.)
Consistency their software provides
Not just technology
My team! They’re amazing and resilient and resourceful

What’s not working

Hiring, Training new staff
Rewrite procedures and workflows
Challenges with ejournals – discovering; a public librn navigating ejournals,embargoes, licensing bewildering.
International shipping costs
Using so many services when seems should be one (ILS, ILL, copies, etc.)
Hathi Trust ETA – not able to print, access local content
System costs
The “walled gardens” concept is increasingly frustrating. We can no longer confidently say that we’ve exhausted all options, since many libraries’ collections are no longer discoverable or borrowable via OCLC
Different levels of staffing – knowledge (e.g. not tech knowhow)
Budgets – lots of budget comments
Configuring new systems
Heightened stress of working in buildings with others due to COVID
Uncertainty for the future
Interpreting libraries’ policy directories
So many overdues. Some required to send overdues, willing to renew though but manual work.
Some libraries charging very high fees when they don’t.
Lack of multiple system integration
I’m worried about the resource sharing network fracturing as we pick different products that are closed off from each other

Trends

Mailing continuing
More e-book
CDL
Repurpose space
Looking at systems – Rapid, Alma RS, ReShare
Hoping physical lending when back up will lessen scanning some
Some rethinking policies – due dates, renewals
Exclusive new ILL groups for ILS types
Difficulty getting items back. Not able to send returns back to some libraries.
People love getting books delivered. EBOOKS. CDL
Taking the time to rethink our policies from an anti-racist and anti-oppressive standpoint. For example, giving faculty privileges that students do not have may disadvantage students’ research and success.

New tech helping with all above

Various comments on ebook sharing including – Better platforms for ebook sharing, better ways scan, sharing platform
New scanners
CDL, ReShare, Internet Archive & CDL
Without technology we absolutely could not do the scale of ILL requests we process each year. Thankful that OCLC has tried to do multiple projects to support the ILL community throughout the pandemic
OCLC’s continuing expansion of WorldCat world-wide helps discovery and fulfillment. I fear as libraries are dropping out of it due to cost will complicate ILL, creating walled gardens.
Cheaper automatic OCR needed
Looking for lower costs

Ideal RS sharing look like

More thinking not CDL-based but could be part of it. Several noted increased importance and prevalence of CDL. Even as some users still prefer print.
Integrating various systems, interoperability
Depends on vendors and license restrictions
Better ways to tell what requestor wants – e? physical?
Accessibility is paramount – some need print, some need electronic. We need to be able to be agile
Moving beyond CONTU
A system that is open to any integrated system; interoperable with current functions to make training easier; nation-wide courier and standard for the movement of physical materials

What should Resource Sharing look like on collective level

Number pointed to OCLC SHARES resource for Int’l ILL knowing who you can go to (crowd-sourced)
Think within groups preferred but still need ability to share worldwide including auto moving
It seems that some libraries may sacrifice turnaround time for consortial agreements/relationships by keeping local, slower libraries higher up in the routing tables. Our library used to do so, but I have a group of patrons where every minute counts — I will go outside our consortia for faster service, and in turn, provide the same quick turnarounds for those within and outside my consortia.
Reliance on groups like ReShare and IDS to get systems to work together.
Group sharing has allowed us to strategically reduce our print collections and allows for consistent borrowing and lending policies. But it also is important to be able to lend and borrow outside of the group
The pandemic seems to have proven we are motivated to work together

Misc

Costs of systems – OCLC, ILLiad, RapidILL. Some talk about switching but concerned about walled gardens.
So many options, challenging keeping all straight.
Disappointed vendors don’t speak to each other
Moving to Alma but INN-Reach “will be lost” unless Ex Libris and III get together to install their API.
Hoping for more interoperability, doesn’t depend on proprietary APIs
Big time of anticipation
Love regular updates – ILLiad, Tipasa
Reaching out to help others – how reach out to libraries that are disadvantaged?
Fractured network as people pick different products
Overdue ILLs
Hard to implement CDLs
Access to content – Lending fees libraries charge
Access to content – Libraries on free lists that don’t have holdings in OCLC
Systems that do not seamless interoperate

Community needs

Feels like lots of libraries having to make policy/practice changes on their own (copyright compliance, whole ebook lending, CDL, etc) instead of shared best practices or field-wide tools. There is agreement on the principles but not the how-to/use-this.
Downsized physical collections
Wanting interoperability between systems, some noting not wanting proprietary
Accessibility
InstantILL
Recognition Unmediated will greatly improve [service]
International ILL (note SHARES is on lead for sharing of international go-tos – will be open to not only SHARES libraries)
Can get confusing when your library is involved in multiple consortial agreements (even on a regular day). Have found it particularly challenging when the gears of unrelated agreements started moving in different directions with this idea being exaggerated during pandemic.
I was interested in Tom’s comment about “many eggs in the basket”. I had the opposite take-away from talking to people about my organization: we need to reduce the number of subscriptions and multiple products. Library budgets are tight. Maintaining many products and subscriptions is expensive in both staff and subscription costs. Curious if others have opinions on this?

RRSI Zoom April 8, 2021 session – peaked at 173, most of the session had 170.

Reminders:

If you want to be anonymous make sure you are not signed into Google.
Information will be shared with whomever is interested via RRSI
Let’s have a positive conversation without negative comments.
Questions to Lars Leon (lleon@ku.edu) and Tom Bruno (tombruno@upenn.edu)

Your library type & number of staff in resource sharing as defined by you. (Respondents who choose to enter comments on Shared Google Docs during session.

Library Type	1 person	2-5 people	6+ people
Public	0 / 0 / 0 / 0 [0]	0 / 1 / 0 / 1 [2]	0 / 0 / 0 / 1 [1]
Academic	6 / 3 / 6 / 6 [21]	9 / 13 /10 / 11 [43]	9 / 11 / 6 . 11 [37]
Medical	1 / 0 / 1 / 0 [2]	3 / 0 / 2 / 2 [7]	0 / 0 / 0 / 0 [0]
Special – Gov, Law, Other	2 / 0 / 1 / 0 [3]	0 / 0 / 0 / 3 [3]	0 / 0 / 1 / 0 [1]
Vendor	1 ? / ? / 4 [GoogleDoc not sure since some folks entered their vendor names. We will make more clear next time].

(?) One GoogleDoc set listed quite a few ILLiad, ILLiad with Docline/Rapid, WorldShare ILL, Alma (they misinterpreted our question. Will need to fix)

2) Where do you get the majority of your loans? (place an x in the box.)

Editors’ note: we were not clear on our question so some people entered their request mgmt tools.

OCLC WorldShare ILL	OCLC Relais D2D	Koha	Auto-Graphics SHAREit	III INN-Reach
11 / 17 / 5 / 11	2 / 1 / 2 / 1			3 / 0 / 3 / 2

Ex Libris Peer-to-Peer	Ex Libris Alma	RapidR	UBorrow	Tipasa
0 / 0 / 1 / 0	2 / 1 / 1 / 0	1 / 2 / 3 / 2	– 0/ 1 / 0 / 0	0 / 0 / 0 / 0

NOte: 3rd set had 13 note “OCLC via ILLiad”

Evergreen consortium	Relais ILL	ILLiad
0 / 0 / 1	0 / 0 / 2 / 1	0 / 0 / * / 13

*Some questions from the 3rd set listed below:

Some questions:

Ex Libris Rapido not mentioned, but it is early in its product cycle.

Some of the products mentioned here are ILL brokering applications, other are ILS/LSP.

Is Koha being used as an ILL brokering service?

Also for Evergreen. Is Evergreen being used for transaction brokering outside its own consortium?-No

What about FulfILLment based on the Evergreen core.

3) Where do you get the majority of your copies?

Editors’ note: we were not clear on our question so some people entered their request mgmt tools.

RapidILL	OCLC WorldShare ILL	DOCLINE	III ArticleReach
9 / /13 / 8	7 / / 3 / 8	1 / / 1 / 0

CCC Get it Now	Reprints Desk Article Galaxy Scholar	Tipasa	Odyssey	ILLiad
1 / 0 / 1 / 0	1 / 0 / 1 . 0	0 / 0 / 2 / 0	0 / 0 / 4 / 0	0 / 0 / 0 / 9

OCLC via ILLiad	Relais ILL
0 / 0 / 8 / 0	0 / 0 / 1 / 0

4. How are you feeling about resource sharing now?

Controlled Digital Lending is becoming popular
Positive about the many new ideas in resource sharing, underwhelmed with the technological options to execute those ideas (+100)
We did great during the pandemic! (RS as a whole – it was incredibly challenging but I think the community really came through)
We’re soon transitioning our ILL broker and are watching the space for developments that might change our trajectory. There are a lot of exciting things happening, but nothing is quite ready for prime time for our needs yet so we wait with anticipation.
Lending during the pandemic was overwhelming, it was hard to keep up with Rapid as a department of one.
We are tired. We closed for 1 week during the lockdown, but provided lots of items. Without student help and allowing 1 person in the library at a time, it was exhausting. We also moved to more document delivery – which we didn’t really do pre-Covid. That added to the exhaustion and added to the workload.
+100 above comment
Unsure. The cost of OCLC, ILLiad, and RapidILL is high. There is some talk in library admin to switch to something else. I’m not sure that we’d be able to fill requests from these newer walled gardens. Seems like a step backwards to leave OCLC.
There’s so many options, OCLC (WS, Tipasa, ILLiad), Alma, DocLine, InstantILL, Rapid, RSCVD project, web forms, email, CLIO, etc.. It’s great, but trying to keep it all straight can be mind boggling. I see that people will always need help obtain resources that are needed.
YES to above. We are trying to keep everything in place and move forward. YES! Mind boggling!

Another set

Thankful for it, as always! Looking forward to even more in the future. And, concerned about costs limiting the participation of libraries.
Still learning, only about 6 months in to it due to retrenchments
We had a hiccup but have successfully moved forward
Positive – hoping for more interoperability that doesn’t depend on proprietary APIs
Positive – our small rural library depends on resource sharing to acquire materials for our patrons.
Am done with the proprietary INN-Reach-this makes it very difficult to choose a new ILS, but we have no other option but to plan to keep using INN-Reach unless our consortia implement ReShare
grateful and positive – we’ve been an essential service for about 10 years now; borrowing never went offline & lending did elec until we were allowed back in the building… getting resources from our colleagues around the world has been humbling really
Have opened ILL slowly as we ended with ILLiad, now using Alma RS mainly – works smoothly (still learning all aspects

Another set

OK, but disappointed that vendors don’t talk / cooperate with each other.
Mostly good. Our patrons are frustrated that they can’t always get physical books needed given continuing pandemic restrictions but it is what it is.
We offer a lot of services but need to make it more streamlined for users
Great, seamless, transition to working from home; get in 2x week to lend physicals.
Amazed at what is available, grateful to those who are lending and scanning. Looking forward to when libraries re-open as we are in-library use only and are waiting to be able to loan again.
In transition, recently migrated to Alma and using it for consortial loans, implemented RapidILL this year, using ReprintsDesk to purchase articles mediated and unmediated
Honored to be a part of this world. It’s great to have the flexibility to go between DOCLINE and WS.
Big time of anticipation
Awesome how OCLC adapted services & resources during the pandemic this past year. Even the publishers came forward & offered free access for a time. I hope we can build on this and continue to share more resources for free going forward.
Generally grateful for this accommodating community! I do wish some folks would approve renewals and be more flexible, though.
We have been back in our building since June 2020, so in many ways things are continuing as they were pre-pandemic. Recently as we have seen all of our staff and even most of our student workers get vaccinated, we are feeling pretty optimistic here and looking forward to Fall 2021.
Ditto previous comment: “We offer a lot of services but need to make it more streamlined for users”
We have been surprisingly busy and have been identified as an essential service. Our team is one of the few departments allowed back in the library.
Returned to our building in July 2020 and currently back to full service in ILL.

Another set

There are a lot of new applications emerging, and it is hard to know whether they would improve operations, or would be another subscription that adds cost. We use mainly ILLiad currently but are interested in trying out something else
Revisiting issues with CONTU, multiple systems/silos provide some current challenges but also the potential to improve how we supply our patrons with materials.
It has been instrumental in our pivot to the provision of services in a virtual world. The change from a single institution catalog to a SUNY wide catalog is something 1 brag about often.
It is a dynamic and exciting area. How do we participate to maintain the widest connection or collaboration with other institutions?
Being a Tipasa library has been instrumental over the last year. Having a cloud based system was great, not having to be tied to my computer was great (I could process from my ipad on the porch!)
I agree that Tipasa made it work during COVID.
Some of the new products seem to mainly support a consortium but we still lend to everybody
Increasingly challenging to discover and borrow materials from libraries that aren’t OCLC suppliers. Public library here–this may be more an issue with PLs? There are whole states to whom we lend, but cannot figure out what the “in” is to send borrowing requests, or even surface holdings.
Like many others — overwhelmed — especially with all the changes that are happening, especially with technologies. We were one of the lucky few that were able to stay open the past year (after a fight with library administration that we CAN be open. (We didn’t have our first COVID case until June and still have only had a few thousand cases. Being rural has been a blessing!) Back to the technology changes — I am struggling to catch up, let alone keep up.
Need some ideas for alternatives for CONTU copyright handling
“Overwhelmed” – It’s a cluster of change and technologies emerging and platforms. Interoperability is becoming a concern….as if it will become little pods of segregated systems. It’s getting difficult to stay on top of all the changes to ensure a really positive seamless user experience.
My library only does resource sharing through OCLC WorldShare and it works pretty well for our current request volume. We’re currently only allowing a skeleton crew to physically work in our building which can make it a little bit hectic to physically fill requests because only 1 ILL person is in the building at a time but generally, we’ve collaborated as a department to make it work.
We are facing a lot of subscription cuts, and I anticipate having to borrow more
We feel like we cannot deal with overdues quite yet…
It would be nice if ILLiad had a better indicator for an ebook request. Sometimes it is not clear that whether a library is requesting a physical book or ebook. Also, we’d like to have a way to more automatically reject ebook requests, until we’re able to do ebook lending.
I love that this time has shown to the broader community that ILL is vital, but it’s also so, SO exhausting.

5. What’s working?

As always, library staff bend over backwards to help each other find resources for our users.
We use ILLiad and were able to turn on a dime at the start of the pandemic, changing workflows/routing rules/email templates/web forms – thank goodness for the flexibility it allowed
I agree with the above comment! ILLiad allows a lot of needed flexibility.
YES!! ILLiad saved us! We don’t really do document delivery unless the student is away from campus, but we relied on it HEAVILY during lockdown.
I love, love, love the 16 day/20 day “code” in OCLC – that was a huge help in finding lenders. I’ve shown that to non-RS people who thought that was pretty incredible as a crowd-sourced solution to a problem (+1)
Rapid did some pretty terrific work too
RapidILL is speedy.
OCLC’s new automatic Express group is promising, too.
ILLiad rocks
Brokering resource needs on behalf of our customers – try lots of means
Dedication of ILL staff.
I can’t imagine ILL without the OCLC system/WorldCat. Would be so much more difficult and time consuming.
OCLC’s IFM simplifies billing so much. Having to go back to invoicing and manually paying for each request would be impossible. – +1 IFM, hate billing

Another set

Community involvement
Current products work in the sense that patrons do get their items, and it’s functional, it’s just not optimal. Consortial borrowing works smoothly for us.
Communication! In our Academic setting, we’re all handling it well by effectively communicating
Consortium we are a member of cooperation when we lost ILL delivery and resource sharing. Working relationship between our patrons and library staff was very understanding and involved patience from all parties.

Another set

Inn-Reach but will be lost when we move to Alma in June unless ExLibris and III get it together to install our API.
ILLiad works very well
Rapid for articles, chapters, returnables
ILLiad and Rapid are doing well for us. OBILLSK/Shipment Tracking has been extremely helpful, especially with courier delays.
SO GLAD that ILLiad is still being supported and was not replaced by Tipasa. It is perfect for our needs.
ILLiad
ILLiad
DOCLINE routing tables help us to maintain the most accurate and quickest fill rates on both ends.
Communication with each other through ILL-L and DOCLINE-L
Illiad and IDS
ILLiad is great. Initially when I learned it I felt overwhelmed by all the bells and whistles but I have come to really appreciate the functionality. It’s a very comprehensive, smart system
ILLiad, SUNY Resource Sharing. We started a contactless pickup in our library where I check out the items to patrons and bag them up and they pick them up at their convenience. Patrons love this and we haven’t had any problems.
REPRINTS DESK a plug in to Illiad.
Sharing from e-resources & scanning from print. I think we will continue with this going forward.
New Home Delivery service of ILL items. It has become very popular and the majority of the incoming ILL Loan items are routed to Home Delivery. I’m grateful that our library offers UPS shipping and return labels. We have not lost an item so far.

Another set

Traditional systems are still working fine. The enhancements that are being developed for them have helped make resource sharing easier.
ILLiad works pretty well still for the most part. Please keep enhancing it! +1
Love that Tipasa constantly updates items, sometimes hard to keep up with the updates. But appreciate all of their many Webinars that kept me up to date during our shut downs.
Long standing systems – some are staying very solid. The enhancements keep them relevant and as interoperable as possible. The user experience for our patrons is still front and center of many of these improvements.
Love that other Librarians helping each other out. We have been more responsive to each other’s needs when someone asks for help on ILL List.
Our ILLiad system and interactions with WorldShare are wonderful. We wouldn’t have been able to keep up without them. Patience and understanding between librarians and other institutions!!!!
Lars – adding comment from Zoom – reaching out to help others (e.g. Jesuit education init) how reaching out to libs that are disadvantaged?

6. What’s not working? Where are you feeling the pressure (e.g. costs, financial pressure, framing expectations, other areas)?

Libraries closed has limited our borrowing resources
Costs for shipping physical ILLs, even within our consortium
I’m worried about the resource sharing network fracturing as we pick different products that are closed off from each other
Because we are open, our lending has skyrocketed! We have been a net borrowing library, until this last year. We have had to sort the workload around between our staff.
The ETAS have been a challenge this year – definitely a love/hate relationship there. I think our experience there may inform future CDL thoughts. Patrons seem to like them for browsing/searching and but maybe not so much for reading (anecdotal observation only)
So many overdue lending items! With so many libraries closed or reduced or offsite working, they aren’t returning items that are many months overdue. Some ignore emails and invoices, which my campus requires us to send by mail.
Waiting for CDL to materialize. Was hoping it would be up at this point. Worried that when things are “normal” the motivation will ebb.
Overdue lending items! A huge problem as result of pandemic
CDL is complex to implement from what I’ve read/heard. Having to use multiple systems and do a lot manually. We need an easier single system for it.
We started mailing materials to local patrons, but aren’t sure we’ll be able to continue paying for it. Fear that patrons have become accustomed to the service and will not be happy when it ends.
Too many libraries not updating their status in OCLC Policies Directory or the great map tool that OCLC created to help libraries know who was open, receiving items back, shipping, etc.
We are seeing lots of emails being ignored. We are required to send overdues; we are willing to renew, but we have to do it manually. Just email us. We are feeling the pressure to do more doc delivery. Our USPS costs have gone up and we are trying to contain it all with less staff and budget cuts.
Alma (ExLibris) RS is sooooo clunky
Vendor restrictions on electronic sharing, embargoes, subscription prices
Wish ILLiad could interface with UPS CampusShip to create those shipping labels. Having to switch between the systems, update the address book in both places, etc. is time consuming.
YES above
Some libraries charge very high fees – we don’t charge anyone

Another set

Costs
Lots of systems that are not seamlessly interoperable
Costs
Another vote for lots of systems that are not seamlessly interoperable. Proprietary systems are an issue (I’m looking at you, INN-Reach). Also need ebook borrowing options.
Getting back books from our patrons (most especially ones who are overseas), which were borrowed pre-COVID
Borrowers asking for a 50+ .pdf from our physical collection – aint nobody got time for that!
Feels like lots of libraries having to make policy/practice changes on their own (copyright compliance, whole ebook lending, CDL, etc) instead of shared best practices or field-wide tools. There is agreement on the principles but not the how-to/use-this.
+1
Horrible turnaround times for loans when you add in difficulties finding lenders, shipping times, and quarantine periods.
Would have loved to send patrons to Internet Archive but our counsel put the kibosh on it 🙁
- (reply comment) – IA gave me mixed feelings a lot this last year, doing lots of good things with fair use but then it felt like also making a rights grab for recent non-scholarly material… I worry this may hurt CDL by going too far. I wish this were a more settled area.
Financial pressure
Quarantining shipments -> extra delays

Another set

INN-Reach cost is way too high, waiting for API to be in ALMA – why are they procrastinating?
Was: lending physicals; now seeing much more .pdf’s going out.
$ & patron delivery of hard copy
Local IT restrictions blocking anything with foreign domains and the gymnastics required just to send an external email with a PDF or secure document retrieval information.
Despite OCLC’s wonderful update that shows KB, we’re still receiving too many WorldShare copy requests for things we do not have (lacking or embargo) despite our holdings being shown. These mostly come from those that originate from ILLIAD users.
The budget is always a concern here.
Currently at BAL, our campus is closed. We’re in a position where we can go into the library and process ILL’s for curbside pick-up. But our students/faculty/staff are discouraged from coming to campus. So recovering ILL’s that our users have checked out is challenging.
We eased up on copyright limits with libraries closed and patrons forced to shelter remotely. Raises expectations and patrons do not understand why we cannot now continue as they do not understand the fair use principles..
Lack of transparent pricing models for resource sharing services/systems (in particular, a certain large non-profit collaborative)
Want librarians to fight for more access from publishers when negotiating license agreements for e-resources. We world so well in the pandemic, this is a wave of the future and hard to dial back now.
eBook Lending/Borrowing

Another set

We’re ask to save on subscriptions so multiple products per functional area are kind of a luxury
Silos are developing which is causing an issue among libraries that had previously been sharing materials among each other.
Too many libraries that are on free lists, that actually do not have their collection in OCLC, so they can get items for free, but never lend.
I second the above comment.
It’s hard to determine sometimes who has a certain journal issue (in ILLiad), particularly current subscription. I wish there were a way for libraries to indicate current subscription
Really difficult to parse information in libraries’ policy directories.
We wanted to drop CONTU after the webinar, but our University Lawyers are too chicken to let us run with it.
Interoperability via ISO with ILLiad and our state’s primary resource sharing platform (autographic) is wonky. I wish it worked more seamlessly.
Went from 10 people in Access Services to 3 people due to retirements and no rehiring. My ILL went from 5 people and 40 hours of students, to me (1) and a ½ staff and 20 hours of students. Since ILL is in Access Services we have to open and close the library and I am also doing Reference Chat.
Keeping these systems talking to each other and keeping/improving the user experience. It’s getting challenging and starting to not be possible between some systems. Additionally, systems-y individuals having oversight in lots of areas that also are undergoing many tech changes which means that investment into resource sharing may not be as strong as they could otherwise be. – RS is getting so complex. It’s getting more difficult to train/explain workflows.
We have had our collections cut past the bone. Feeling that we will never be the same type of library we once were.
Keeping up with the work procedures for others that do not know much about ILL.
Pressures: being an ILL staff of one (woman of many hats) I also work in Circulation, so I am physically in the building 5 days a week for about 5 hours. Not really being able to “take any time off” to relax when overwhelmed with day-to-day operations can be exhausting. Although I do love the social interaction (physically distanced of course) it does get tiring.
My patrons are often misled by worldcat.org. They don’t understand the subtleties of different editions/records and they often think that a certain specific item they want is held at a library where it really isn’t. Difficult to explain to them why what they see isn’t accurate. It also often puts the most obscure record at the top of the search results–so I get a lot of requests for things like Region 2 DVDs held by 2 libraries in Spain, rather than what the patron really wants/can use. +1
Yes, worldcat.org is confusing.
What is not is shipping, how many books are taking forever to get from library to library. Months! Lost books. +1
Trying to get materials back, billing for extremely overdue and lost items.
Budget cuts! (not that anybody can do anything about that really). As has been mentioned – shipping – or lack thereof. Relying on the USPS. Institutions NOT responding in any way. I don’t care if they still have items, I just want communication from them (hence – overdue notices and replacement charges).
Prices of OCLC have skyrocketed, I have had to fight to keep our Tipasa when we had a major budget cut.

7. What trends are emerging as we open back up? How are you planning to meet them?

Scanning, scanning, scanning – expanded our scanning services in terms of staff support
Controlled digital lending locally
More physical loaning – will hopefully be helped with some lessensing in scanning.
More interest in digital loaning vs. physical loaning
We are reviewing our document delivery plans
Getting long overdue items back from patrons and paying invoices for not returned items
OUr users are separated from the books they borrowed. Had to leave suddenly March 2020 and anticipating returning ( and again in November). Admin not allowing / supporting billing our users so material that could be returned is not being returned.
Getting long overdue lending items back
Return borrowed books to libraries that still aren’t accepting returns
I’d love to do more CDL but my legal counsel is not on board yet.

Another set

We’re still not back (in midtown NYC) but lots of planning
Get involved in CDL development and advocacy
Continuing subsidized delivery of local and ILL materials to distance users’ homes out-of-state.
Rethinking workflows/policies to ensure compliance with copyright law without depending on CONTU
Have downsized our physical collections and databases due to budget constraints, moving to more e-books, focusing mostly on Faculty, student, and lending to SUNY schools. No longer lending to places requiring physical mailing of items due to cost, relying on our delivery service which limits to where we can lend to and borrow from.
Need for interoperability means a need for standards and open infrastructure (playing off NCIP comment)
We do not lend outside of our delivery system due to cost of mailing items.

Another set

Need more unmediated requesting.
We want to try Rapido when (and if) it becomes available
More patrons are asking for ebooks which aren’t always available. We’re doing what we can to fill and getting physical when we can’t. We have more patrons learning at a distance as well.
Wanting to get back into the swing of things, sans COVID.
We’re getting more requests for open access and articles from journals for which we have access, since we haven’t had as much student classroom instructional contact during the pandemic.
We’re moving to a systemwide ILS in July 2021. ILL between the UCs (Univ.of CA) will be more like a circ transaction. We will have access to each others’ patron records and checkout to them on their record using ExLibris Alma/Primo products. We will still use WSILL for non UC requests. This will change everything as Access services will be handling these UC to UC requests instead of ILL. 90% of our requests are between UC libraries.

Another set

I have been finding that a large percentage of articles can be found online for free, via PMC, articles that are open sourced by author paying fees to vendors, ResearchGate, etc. If you use the automated services you will never find these free articles. What will we do about this?
CDL — and online/electronic availability of items. Not really sure how we plan to meet them, yet. We will be implementing different services (such as Occam’s Reader) and are looking into others.
CDL, budget cuts. Multiple developing products that may or may not fit our needs.
I love that OCLC is looking at libraries that have YES as a lender, but not lent anything. Finding out that some never knew that it was still on and taking them out of the possible lending strings. This makes the use of automated lists easier for us to know that they will work.
I think the upheavals of the last year provide a great opportunity for us all to reassess current services and the way they are delivered. Question why we do the things we do.

8. How do you see new technologies helping respond to all of the above?

Newer scanners have begun to help us – BookEye – we didn’t have one prior to Covid.
ILLiad was a huge help, has some good stuff coming
We also got a new Bookeye right at the start of the pandemic to help us respond to anticipated scanning-only services
We are looking for a mobile scanning unit because we realized our students weren’t able to reshelve what we pulled.
OCLC’s continuing expansion of WorldCat world-wide helps discovery and fulfillment. I fear as libraries are dropping out of it due to cost will complicate ILL, creating walled gardens.
Yes! (above comment)
Mobile scanners, (a wand) that can be taken into the stacks would save time and student wages.
Creating accessible documents on the fly (better interfaces without costing an arm and a leg)
Yes (above) the need for easier, cheaper automatic OCR of PDF scans is needed.

Another set

We are an early adopter of Rapido. We are planning to move away from WS ILL and ILLiad and will use Alma RS and Rapido instead.
Loved seeing InstantILL’s interoperability being used to build RSCVD – RSCVD made me feel like I was actually part of worldwide ILL, instead of just U.S. and the few Western libraries in Worldshare
Wondering if open infrastructure (OPDS feeds, LCP, etc. ) enable platform and endpoint neutral lending via standards = interoperability

Another set

Unmediated will greatly improve
Need to improve courier service / cost
More access to e-resources; allow more e-book lending & ability to share via IL for more e-resources. This is the wave of the future & we know we can do it as we did it during the pandemic.

Another set

If you are overwhelmed, all of the automated services are nice.
There is so much possibility! But the systems need to talk and we need the staff who can make these awesome ideas happen.
Interoperability between systems!
Need $ to get the systems.

9. What would an ideal resource sharing X look like now? If we were rebuilding a resource sharing infrastructure from scratch would it all be CDL based? Print be an afterthought?

I doubt it – I think CDL will be a part of it but it will be a while before it takes over
Both options are necessary as every community has different accommodations and needs. Something that can handle both physical, e-books, and files shared via CDL.
CDL would help our students save money by having access to more digital material
Both options are still necessary but I think CDL’s importance and prevalence will only continue to increase
We certainly need to account for print and physical media. Scanning entire books instead of lending them isn’t realistic. Nor is ripping CDs and DVDs for streaming. Even if copyright weren’t a limitation, the staff time and server space and software would make electronic only improbable.
Many users still prefer print so CDL only a part of the answer.
Vendors relaxing licensing restrictions!
It all depends on what vendors put in the electronic format – don’t leave out supplements, certain articles, etc.

Another set

Integrates with all ILSes. Friendly to electronic resources. Non-proprietary.
I think our RS infrastructure would be electronic/CDL primary, with an option for print requests. We have several patrons who request print although we already have the electronic version of a book. I think it depends on what the topic of the book is, as well as the patron’s comfort level.
Affordable for all libraries to participate
It would have to be the perfect combination — keep print, many prefer or need it (accessibility concerns) but also allow CDL for those who prefer and need that (again, accessibility)
Ease of use — we really don’t have time to sit around and email libraries to ask for special things, or really anything in general and wait on a reply. If you can lend, you can and if you cannot, you can’t. Make your things available or not, but don’t make it a game of tag in email or phone calls.
Due to this, a new X would need to be able to have conditionalization and cancellations, and holdings all showing without a local holdings slant — small libraries would need to be able to easily participate. But really, will X be able to happen if individual ILL acquisition technology/ software still will be there? Probably not — too many ILS and ILL and et al and the free market would not allow for it. So how would it work, you know?

Another set

I worry about the creation of silos where you won’t know where an item is held because you are not on their system… similar to old days of oclc vs rlin and others. This exists now to some extent but I fear it looks like it will increase (how online resources are catalogued internally such that they are not represented on oclc is a large issue now.
Unmediated is wonderful and the push for speed as well, but their needs to be channels that items that need special consideration where borrowing or acquiring the item is the goal, not speed… and the attention of staff when data is inaccurate leading to automated rejections or wrong item
Where we are able to share our collections for free! Publishers allow ILL access & do not embargo journal titles for 3 to 5 years! That would BE ideal!
The functionality of ILLiad (deep customization options, routing rules for unmediated functions, etc.) but with easier access (cloud based?) would be ideal.

Another set

Would like to have a system that supports CDL. Could that be added to ILLiad?
I’m not sure if this fits here — whatever is developed, we still need to be able to work together – and systems need to “talk” with each other, so that we aren’t unintentionally limiting ourselves.
The new system should have more fields for e-resources. Right now it is hard to know sometimes when the requestor wants e unless they put notes.
We still want to lend to all libraries but cannot subscribe to many systems. Would like one application that can support it all – wide lending, consortia, CDL…

10. What does resource sharing look like on a collective level? Within groups? Between groups? Internationally? Are there tensions between consortial investment and RS eco-system?

I haven’t seen this at all. We all seem to want to help each other.
The pandemic seems to have proven we are motivated to work together
Juggling, ranking various custom holdings groups in OCLC and RapidILL can be difficult.
Having to search, guess really, which libraries to search for materials internationally outside of WorldCat is time consuming and difficult to navigate all the various languages and interfaces and catalogs and webpages.
We just got started with the IDS project and it has been amazing. Cannot recommend it enough!
The RSCVD project is an excellent example of how we can reach out internationally
The SHARES group’s initiative to create a resource for international requests

Another set – none

Another set

There’s definitely a cost barrier for borrowing internationally. As a FREESHARE/LVIS library, we loan far more internationally than borrow.
Within a local consortium, a couple of libraries have different cost rules for different platforms; ie. free on OCLC, $ on DOCLINE. We find DOCLINE to be more efficient for our needs, so this is just merely an inconvenience. Not a huge deal, but it would be nice for across the board consistency.
Can get confusing when your library is involved in multiple consortial agreements (even on a regular day). Have found it particularly challenging when the gears of unrelated agreements started moving in different directions with this idea being exaggerated during pandemic.
Working in a consortium so we share collections already between UC Libraries for free. LOVE NELLCO/NLEX group. We saved a lot of money joining this group.

Another set – none

11. What types of events and actions can RRSI do to help with any vendor/group neutral conversations? Explorations?

Encouraging and promoting options outside the OCLC monopoly, I mean ecosystem 😉
References made to RSCVD and the Rapid service to supply material to libraries that were not members during the pandemic – love the idea of finding ways to reach out to libraries that lack resources continuing to go forward, even beyond the pandemic. How can we promote equity using resource sharing?
A perspective from the ReShare community: Interoperability is essential. We’d like to see a shared commitment across vendors for supporting ISO18626 (etc) to enable interoperability between platforms and consortia/pods. Groups like RRSI can help guide that conversation and put pressure on vendors. We think there is plenty of opportunity for vendors to compete on the user experience and workflows, but we should establish a shared expectation that patron needs can be served across platform boundaries.
Invite different types of libraries to the conversation– most academic libraries are heavily in on the conversation, but we should consider not leaving other types of libraries outside of networks
NCIP is also important to enable interoperability with local library systems. Any ILS vendor that doesn’t include NCIP support today is just terrible.

Another set – none

Another set

Get the vendors to agree to open access.

Another set

We really need eBook lending. So many libraries no longer buying print books. +1
Ditto
RE ebook lending: I am really interested in working on this and would love to get with interested people to discuss. I have some ideas and would love to get your thoughts (Peter Collins collinsp@oclc.org

Session assessment

12. What worked for you today in this session?

It was fun!
Good conversation and great idea to have the Google Docs

Another set – none

Another set

Thanks for the reminder about rscvd.org
Unfortunately, I missed the session as I messed up on thE time change. Looking for to 4/20 session.

Another set – none

13. What can we do to improve it?

Nothing comes to mind. Thanks for starting the conversation and collating the comments. I look forward to what programming/summaries will come from this.
Easier way to do +1?
This was amazing, but it was difficult to keep up! So many great comments and discussions! Thanks for keeping these Google Docs open for a while. We all need to ‘process’ all of this!
Maybe have the session last 90 minutes? 60 minutes is pretty fast for more than 150 people!

Another set

I really liked the open nature and minimal structure. I feel like there’s two themes: pandemic changes, and landscape changes generally, and I appreciate both getting some airtime.

Another set

Please list webinars in ALL time zones!

Another set – none

Zoom April 20, 2021 session – peaked at 180, most of the session had 173.

RRSI Futures GoogleDoc April 20 Comments

Reminders:

If you want to be anonymous make sure you are not signed into Google.
Information will be shared with whomever is interested via RRSI
Let’s have a positive conversation without negative comments.
Questions to Lars Leon (lleon@ku.edu) and Tom Bruno (tombruno@upenn.edu)

1. Your library type & number of staff in resource sharing as defined by you. Just add an X.

Library Type	1 person	2-5 people	6+ people
Public	2	4
Academic	3	Estimating 33 to 43 (some xs were accidentally deleted)	5
Medical	3	3	2
Special – Gov, Law, Other	4	5	3
Vendor attendees	4

2) Where do you get the majority of your loans? (place an x in the box.)

OCLC WorldShare ILL	OCLC Relais D2D	Koha	Auto-Graphics SHAREit	III INN-Reach
36	3		3	3

Ex Libris Peer-to-Peer	Ex Libris Alma	RapidR	UBorrow	Tipasa
	XXXXX	XXXXXXxX	X	XXXxxxx

Evergreen consortium	Relais ILL	ILLiad
X	X	XXXxxxXXXXXxXxXXXXXxXXXXXXXXXXxXxXxXxXXXxXXxxxxxxx

PALCI EZ-Borrow XXx

DOCLINE XxX

Maxjority of our requests are filled within our consortium (PrairieCat). When resource not found within the consortium, then members may go to OCLC for requests.

3) Where do you get the majority of your copies?

RapidILL	OCLC WorldShare ILL	DOCLINE	III ArticleReach
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXxXxXxxxxxx	X xXXxXXXXxxx	XXxx	xx

CCC Get it Now	Reprints Desk Article Galaxy Scholar	Tipasa	Odyssey	ILLiad
	XX	xXxXx	X	XXX xXX X XXXXXXXXXXXXxXXXxXxXXXXXxxXxxx

OCLC via ILLiad	Relais ILL
X XXXXXXXXXXXXXxXXxxx

4. How are you feeling about resource sharing now?

Regular ILL is going just fine. Our consortium’s resource sharing through Alma’s ExLibris is another story (super clunky)
A bit nervous about how we maintain access to everything we can get now through ILLiad/OCLC/RapidILL later on with all the new tools being developed
Going well, more difficult than usual to get rarely-held items
Missing students and requests.
Focusing on keeping up with current requests while trying to restart physical ILL in a phased approach. Not sure about all the new systems yet!
We’re doing ok…good to be part of ifla RSCVD, sharing with new libraries. Struggling a bit with on campus/off campus working…will be good to be back to ‘old normal’
Really looking forward to ReShare
A bit overwhelmed, mainly due to pandemic staffing, and slightly understaffed. But very grateful to all of our sharing partners — able to get majority of what we need, and can supply majority, albeit slower
New to Rs, moved away from ILLIAD, using ALMA primarily which seems pretty user friendly
ILL has tanked over the last few years.
Feeling okay, requests are down a little bit from last year. Thinking about adding other services, but hesitant since we are trying to minimize the number of employees in the office at one time.
Like Tipasa so far
Looking forward to migrating off of VDX and to Tipasa, then turning our attention to Project ReShare and other initiatives.
ILL is fairly quiet. Our fill rate remains high. Looking forward to ReShare, however, it is definitely confusing with all of these competing products…ILLiad, Rapid, Rapido, Tipasa, ReShare.
ILL has been steady, request numbers dropped overall but fill rate remains high.
ILL has been kinda dead this semester. I can always tell how we’re doing by the number of students we have and we only have 3–the lowest we’ve ever had.
We’ve only been doing resource sharing of articles within our consortium; we have not been doing ILL through ILLiad and we have not been borrowing or lending books through any system
Love the comaraderie
Staffing shortage is a real issue
Lost experienced staff, and their positions will not be filled. Nervous about the fall semester.
Excited about all the possibilities! As bad as the pandemic has been, it’s opened many people’s eyes and minds to different ways of doing things & making quick pivots. Likely to enable us to actually do a couple of things we thought were pie-in-the-key before (like a mobile scanning cart, leaving electronic doc del open to ugrads *campuswide*, actually collaborating w/our special collections library (again).
Overwhelmed with low staff and returning to lending post-fire this fall. Borrowing requests are lower, and lots of uncertainty about future. We borrowed twice as much after the fire in 2018-2019, then much less during pandemic. Wondering what next year will bring… Excited about new technologies on the horizon, but wondering how it will shake out in 5 years or so.
We’re almost back to normal, have been on campus since August.
Still overwhelmed and challenged juggling being new and accidentally hired during the pandemic ILL/Resource Sharing librarian and pandemic challenges. ILLiad is not self intuitive and the job has so many moving pieces to make sense of while meeting users needs and supervising. We are slowly returning to pre-pandemic numbers and I am focusing on automating processes, networking, building collaborations with CM and other librarians willing to mentor, but most of all communicating frequently and kindly with users to meet their needs.
It’s picking up but I’m wondering when we’ll do more with electronic delivery, having learned everything we have about materials handling.
ILL is pretty quiet, never really picked up even though we have been lending physical items since last May. Interested in new products, ways of sharing, etc. But so much going on is overwhelming. ILLiad user and really afraid to lose beloved ILLiad features. However, very excited about THE FUTURE!
Although we still have some very overdue materials since pandemic, most ILL loans and borrowing is going well. Traffic is not as brisk as before, but getting stronger.
Things are going well, looking to add more automations as I am wearing many hats other than ILL lately
Going ok. Feel like we have had more traffic since the pandemic which is great.
Anxious about figuring out how to revert everything back to “normal” operations when we start back up again.
Everything is changing and we want to be where we need to be.
Trying to get a good grasp on what “normal” is in terms of volume, staffing, etc. It feels like so much was turned on its head. It’s hard to determine what the next few years will look like with RapidILL, Rapido, Tipasa, ILLiad, etc.
Resource sharing is more important than ever, despite the pandemic. Patrons really felt the inability to do physical borrowing, affecting humanities more than others. The world of RS really came together to get sharing done though.
Wondering about the future of physical lending and borrowing – will it ever recover to prepandemic levels ( — seconded)
Consortial returnable system on hold during pandemic; libraries not fully open; Not sure what our libraries really want at the moment, there are so many options. Worried about libraries moving to e-only collection development, and lack of full-book ILL methods widely adopted, Controlled Digital Lending; Also there are so many systems, hard to get a handle on the processes.
Just learning!
Going OK. Undergraduates are using us more than ever. Scanning for course reserves to accommodate online classes also increased.
Physical loans all good; would like to explore e-book lending and borrowing
Ditto on e-book lending and borrowing.
Slowly getting back to where we were pre-COVID lockdown.
Getting ready to start borrowing physical items through traditional ILL again! We resumed borrowing through consortia partners/catalog in September 2020, but we had some mail room and ILL staffing issues that kept us from restarting borrowing items until now.
We are unstoppable. Neither COVID, nor natural disaster, nor political unrest could grind us to a halt. I’m thankful for the community we have
Doing well – looking forward to ReShare as a potential future platform to open up our consortia to others not on the same platform.
Lending and Borrowing physical and digital. Less student help, still quarantining – slows things down. Worried about financial cuts and having to work with a less advanced system.
Big Deal break hasn’t helped (sconded)
Our students are super thankful for all we are doing to meet their needs with scans when they cannot get to our library
Short staffed with only 1 student assistant. ILL stats are down compared to last year.

5. What’s working?

ILLiad!!!! OCLC SHARES group.
ILLiad, purchase on demand, RAPID-ILL, DOCLINE
Remote Desktop into work computer has been immensely helpful, CCOV group very beneficial. Occasional ebook purchase-on-demand during full shutdown
ILLiad, Reprints Desk, OCLC, IDS Logic
ILLiad, OCLC, Rapid with the occasional Docline
ILLiad for shipping to remote workers and distance students
ILLiad, OCLC, IDS Logic, Alma ILLiad Add-ons, CCOV, OCLC symbol notations (20, 16, etc.) HathiTrust ETAs, Commercial document delivery (Reprints Desk)
ILLiad, RapidILL, OCLC SHARES Town Halls, new Docline (mostly)
ILLiad. Team is not excited about moving to anything else. If it’s not broke…
ILLiad
Tipasa has been great so far, love it being web based. Wish I had it when we were working from home, but so be it!
ILLiad. Thankfully the OCLC folks rethought that plan to make everybody go to Tipasa!
The mail! Ebooks (really want to dive in all the way there!). Rapid. Our in-house docdel operations. Occam’s Reader we found was a great tool (their reserves feature) for delivering books to international students
Alma resource sharing for articles. We are not lending or borrowing books right now. Some specific faculty requests for books through ILLiad. That works fine.
ILLiad, RapidILL, remote desktop access to ILLiad from home, home delivery program via UPS
Remote desktop access & ability to bring some equip (like 2nd monitors, external keyboards/mice) home to support FT teleworking.
ILLiad, Reprints Desk, updated policies that are more giving to our users and to our colleagues
Hands-on OCLC WS and DOCLINE instead of mediated; periodic routing analysis/editing
ILLiad !!!!!!!!
ILLIAD and RAPID
The consistency that ILLiad provides helps so much. One less thing to have to keep up with changes for. Thank you!
ILLiad and Rapid. RapidILL continues to rule the world in collegiality and customer service. IDS Project also working, for similar reasons to Rapid.
Thankful to have a cloud-base service like Tipasa. Not tied to my computer at the physical library. I can work from my ipad on the porch. Having my day split between being in the library and WFH and being able to remain logged in both at home and at work.
ILLiad and RAPID, IDS PRoject
RapidILL – ILLiad not so good because of inability of OCLC to show holdings for ILLiad libraries – lots of bad requests sent because of that –
Ability to work from home and process borrowing requests and some lending from e-resources.
INN-Reach works well – excited about ReShare
Slowly getting back to normal, patrons are slowly beginning to submit their requests to our local libraries.
RapidILL – we couldn’t have survived the pandemic without it
ILL staff are amazing and dedicated to their jobs in very uncertain times
My team! They’re amazing and resilient and resourceful
Online programs such as Docline and ILLiad have enabled us to work from home (which we are still doing!). The tools from OCLC (ILL physical item map, policy groups for those that can lend from print/ebooks/etc.) were incredibly useful, especially earlier on in the pandemic when we were collectively struggling to identify which libraries were open, with access to print, etc.
Rapid ILL, Remote Desktop, BCOV, Scanning a chapter because of HathiTrust conditions, OCLC and IDS, Remote patron physical mailing

6. What’s not working? Where are you feeling the pressure (e.g. costs, financial pressure, framing expectations, other areas)?

Training a new staff member
Trying to rewrite procedures and workflows to account for opening up physical ILL while hiring 2 people. Is it working? We’ll find out soon! We are facing impending budget cuts which could affect operations. No student labor. Retirements.
Challenges with identifying libraries with their ejournal coverage
Hiring a new staff member and the amount of training involved in that (I have responsibilities in other library areas, so this is overwhelming)
Strange new overlap with Reserves and Document Delivery requests from Faculty coming in through ILLiad from faculty. Budget going forward?
Trying to document policies and procedures, so that we can share more readily. Developing training procedures for those who are remote.
Death of our primary staff person who handled ILL
Ebook lending & borrowing
Shipping physical loans internationally and the cost of that.
Yes, expectations for fast turnaround, both during pandemic and with understaffing — budgeting never able to support enough staffing, though luckily have enough to support borrowing without much restriction; challenge of many resource sharing services to work on in separate online systems. Dealing with payments and billing — ideal world would be completely reciprocal, but being in a geographical isolated place, shipping cost for lenders to us and us to borrowers is an expense that is not easily controlled. Perhaps CDLL is a way forward?
Not sure why we are still using so many services when it seems like there should be one that does everything by now- ILS, ILL, copies, etc.
Copyright – CONTU
Too many things at once – budget cuts, retirements and staff reductions, re-org, pandemic..
Financial pressures…just found out our ILL account is nearly out of money…we have been spending more for ILL and not getting enough to cover expenses.
HathiTrust emergency access – people are angry they can’t access our print books and are mad when they have to use ILL; they also don’t want to use the online format because they can’t download and there are limited copies available
We rearranged ourselves pretty nicely working from home and now that we have been called back to work we are adjusting to working in the building, but still apart (we used to be in an open office together. Web presence to get in front of patrons is essential!
Finding time to implement ILLiad Decision system
The cost of OCLC WorldShareILL subscription when we have been decreasing our use over the last 4 years, but the price keeps going up!
The “walled gardens” concept is increasingly frustrating. We can no longer confidently say that we’ve exhausted all options, since many libraries’ collections are no longer discoverable or borrowable via OCLC.
Different opinions with my supervisors on lending loans/due dates…I tend to be more liberal, mine tend to be a bit more conversative about it. Also figuring out what is ethical as far as using “free” online resources. (Are they free, or just posted without regard for copyright). Quarantining items and that taking way too long for patrons to get ILL. In general, just feeling pretty burnt out on Pandemic Days, like everyone else is! We have been back at full capacity since July 2020.
The Post Office. They “misplaced” 30 of our books that we mailed out and only when our unit head and the dept. Head complained to the the mailroom and their supervisor contacted the regional postmaster were they magically “found”.
As a humble public librarian, navigating ejournals, embargoes, and licensing issues as a borrower is bewildering. I know this is second nature for academics, but less so for us.
That one professor who has emailed me FIVE times since the pandemic began to ask me “What’s going on with ILL? Why can’t you get this item for me?”
I don’t personally have the systems expertise to grasp the techy parts of ILL and interoperability. TCP/IP, SIP, Z39.50, are mysteries to me; not sure where to go to get that knowledge. This is maybe becoming more of an issue with multiple systems, perhaps more so than when OCLC was the only game in town?
No budget now for things we used to do, such as getting ebooks or print books when requested that were published within the past 3 years. Now, there is a frustration among patrons due to not having this feature, but financially we are not able to do this any longer, at least until a budget is resolved –if it is resolved
Alma configurations are extensive and confusing. Not being able to lend or borrow titles is frustrating but it is a college mandate right now. Much less budget than normal.
Yes, Alma’s requesting functionality is very challenging to configure & clunky, even when it works *as designed*
Increased global cyberattacks on publishers and fellow institutions leading IT to tighten security to the point of making our jobs (accessing resources and sharing documents) increasingly challenging
Budget constraints are always an issue
Wondering a lot about CONTU
Budget and due dates are getting slim when borrowing from other places.
Budget
Borrowing ebooks the way my patrons want
Declining use, we need researchersReShare to know what ILL is.
Ebooks and other electronic resources; faculty want CDL but we’re not there in terms of staffing, equipment
Budget concerns in terms of our delivery service.
CONTU and unrealistic copyright guidelines
Ditto on the budget. We used to be a NetLender, but are getting closer to breaking even. Fingers crossed we do not become a NetBorrower 🙂
Having staff comfortable working in the library, many have heightened stress because of fear of contracting COVID, others in the library not wearing face coverings etc..
ILLiad article lending – because OCLC has been unable to show holdings for ILLiad libraries so we get so many requests for articles that we lack the years/volumes
Library staff working in the building resenting other library staff who are working remotely (due to health issues, childcare issues, etc.)
Imminent journal cuts due to budget issues that will result in more ILL volume
Uncertainty for the future. We’ve been managing telework well, but with the upcoming fall semester there are going to be changes to schedule (who’s coming in vs. who’s telecommuting). I imagine that with those changes + the early semester rush of requests, we’re going to feel the pressure cooker starting up. Additionally, it’s been difficult at times for my staff to avoid minor, routine errors in lending and it’s put me (supervisor) in a tricky place to try and be supportive (not harsh), yet also try to promote more accurate work
Budget + libraries short now on staff thanks to the post-pandemic world in which we are living in – some of those positions aren’t coming back.
Declining use due to pandemic, delays in fulfillment due to USPS, and local delivery delays due to quarantine periods
I get more and more frustrated with trying to interpret libraries’ policy directories. Feels like this piece of the infrastructure might be ripe for a refresh.
Multiple system integration / lack thereof, especially WMS
Not being able to lend ebooks,reduction in staff/students, relying more on chapter scans because physical lending is so slow. Copyright costs keep rising. Difficulty to obtain not widely held materials.

7. What trends are emerging as we open back up? How are you planning to meet them?

Continuing to mail items to patrons; more ebook lending (and borrowing)
We are back to where we were before the pandemic closures.
Continued support and interest in e-books and CDL
We’re trying
Continuing to mail print items to patrons; thinking about moving it from circulation services to interlibrary loan since we’re so used to shipping!
Repurposing space previously held by Course Reserves to highlight ILL services and provide greater exposure between staff and patrons.
Controlled digital lending — both for social distancing for our students, and for lending, possibly PPV for articles when subscriptions are not supportable (budget-wise)
Looking into Rapido and Alma Resource Sharing and wondering about ReShare
Purchasing more ebooks for requests
We are not re-open yet. We are working on the re-opening plan.
Open access & what is the future of resource sharing and working with a limited number of vendors who provide access these days.
People love getting books delivered. EBOOKS. CDL.
We’re probably going to have to get into loaning ebooks in the future.
As above, hoping we can continue shipping physical items to remote users, curbside pickups, doc del for ugrads, more streamlined requesting options on the front-end, w/staff sorting things out behind the scenes. Hopefully our systems will support us & our users better
Working on Rapido implementation with local discovery integration
Remote success leads C-suite to devalue physical space and outsiders redesigning our spaces. We can only confront this with data and patron stories
ReShare
We are looking at CDL a lot
Doing more chapter scans and renewals
ReShare
ReShare for sure and CDL.
Longer circulation times and generous renewals
CDL; e-book lending
Scanning of book chapters, home delivery
Rethinking our due dates and renewals
Tools are gettin more complex and expensive to use.
Exclusive new ILL groups for ILS types
Shipping items to remote patrons with return shipping labels, priority given to e-resources, articles, chapters.
Difficulty getting items back…
Reshare
Rethinking workflows, training
Needing to figure out a way to do CDL
Telecommuting will continue (though not 100% as it is now). eBook borrowing as a first attempt will remain our workflow beyond the pandemic
We’re currently scouting for a new ILS, so we’re hoping it’s an opportunity to be able to do more with integration and better user experience
Rethinking on-site work vs. flex place/work-from-home options (flexible work arrangements) for ILL staff and all library staff
Controlled digital lending/ eBook lending
Taking the time to rethink our policies from an anti-racist and anti-oppressive standpoint. For example, giving faculty privileges that students do not have may disadvantage students’ research and success.
Ebook purchases replacing print purchases. Cuts in journal subscriptions increasing individual requests through ILL. Unless we are able to lend ebooks, less ability to loan our books. Longer due dates and flexible renewals. More reliance on Rapid ILL

8. How do you see new technologies helping respond to all of the above?

Better platforms for ebook sharing; better ways to scan documents for accessibility; sharing platforms of streaming videos
Ebook borrowing/lending, CDL
Full ebook lenders (especially the VIVA libraries)
We need better ways to share E-Books.
Hopefully less expensive methods for resource sharing. Reprints Desk costs are staggering.
CDL, SimplyE, document delivery integrated into discovery systems (like RD new Galaxy system) that allow PPV for articles over subscription costs (collection costs vs. ILL costs and staffing time)
CDL, more system integration
Ebook borrowing and lending would be exceptionally good. Accessibility to a textbook platform for reserves would be ideal.
CDL
ReShare
ReShare
We need agnostic tools that will work for all.
Internet Archive and CDL
Without technology we absolutely could not do the scale of ILL requests we process each year. Thankful that OCLC has tried to do multiple projects to support the ILL community throughout the pandemic
Ability to Loan ebooks. Rapid ILL has been great; if it could also allow more lender/borrower interaction and history. More open source to offset copyright cost of other materials.
Hoping to improve article turnaround. Looking at RapidILL. Hoping ReShare will have will support articles soon
Hoping ReShare solves many issues.
A post-ILL world where the cost of OCLC isn’t so high

9. What would an ideal resource sharing X look like now? If we were rebuilding a resource sharing infrastructure from scratch would it all be CDL based? Print be an afterthought?

Not sure about the print afterthought – have many people still want that due to struggle with reading on screen; want to have it if no access to online
Definitely not all CDL based. Many patrons want to download the item
Agreeing with the above bullet. My concern is unmediated routing wasting both borrowers’ and lenders’ time. Ideally, embargos and stated holdings will be considered (@ILLIAD/OCLC)
Physical copies of items are still needed/wanted.
Physical copies are still desired by many, think we would need to provide a mix of sharing formats.
Integrating various systems — intersystem operability, CDL as part, but not 100%
E-book, before CDL. Won’t have to be a techie to use ILL systems, good integration.
Auto OCR for scanning/transmitting
Integrating the various systems. Being able to see journal holdings in ILLiad wrt Borrowing
Systems should have workflows for both e-lending and physical. Sometimes currently it is hard to tell which format is being requested when we have e — does the requestor realize we have e and is requesting it or do they want print only? The system should help make it more clear (we only use ILLiad)
No, print is still requested.
Accessibility is paramount – some need print, some need electronic. We need to be able to be agile
Ability to get patrons needed items in the way that they want it. Offer CDL as option. Open e-book lending. Remove system-built and constraining copyright requirements. Real-time availability; semester or year long due dates.
We should move beyond the CONTU guidelines as they are outdated and need improvement. Perhaps coming up with an acceptable alternative that considers copyright law (not CCG) could be the next great shift in ILL. Concerning format of materials, both print and electronic sharing must be available so long as we have the ability to accommodate that! Lastly, many of our license agreements for online journals are exclusionary to libraries outside of the U.S. I can’t imagine we’re unique in this regard. It would be great to be able to lend to folks overseas, too!
Print is not an afterthought, but need models for borrowing e-resources–demand here is increasing.
Avoid copyright restrictions.
Reduce duplication but have a mix of digital and physical resources. Allow digital to have more viewers without being so expensive per viewer.
A system that is open to any integrated system; interoperable with current functions to make training easier; nation-wide courier and standard for the movement of physical materials.
Being able to see e-journal and journal holdings at volume level is key in any system for efficiency – I wish we were able to see more in ILLiad

10. What does resource sharing look like on a collective level? Within groups? Between groups? Internationally? Are there tensions between consortial investment and RS eco-system?

Know logistics for international ILL is challenging, but with the many innovators in the field is working hard to see how that can be less onerous. There’s a resource that was developed (and is continually updated) for information and tips for international ILL.
Many unknowns with status of foreign libraries and ILL, extra transit time due to quarantines in shipping
I think that within groups is a preferred first option, but no group has all it’s members needs I think we need to still have the ability to share worldwide.
Yes, groups first, but then outward circles outward (reciprocal to non-reciprocal; easy to locate to harder to find). Will likely always need to have some manual searching, requesting, and hands-on sleuthing for the unique/rare/hard to find items, including special collections, archival materials
Auto move from one consortia to another (ReShare)
International lending would be nice if the other countries are willing to pay for it.
It seems that some libraries may sacrifice turnaround time for consortial agreements/relationships by keeping local, slower libraries higher up in the routing tables. Our library used to do so, but I have a group of patrons where every minute counts — I will go outside our consortia for faster service, and in turn, provide the same quick turnarounds for those within and outside my consortia.
Not for us.
Hard because we don’t share library systems. You need to rely on groups like ReShare and IDS Project to get systems to work together
Some groups are more exclusionary than others (simply due to the fact not all libraries are paying for specific products/programs/services), but I think we as a community do a pretty good job of trying to be available and accessible to all. Email forums like MEDLIB-L, ILL-L and webinars such as this one are a way to bridge the disconnect between members of different groups. There’s always more work to be done but it’s hard to anticipate the needs of the voiceless
Group sharing has allowed us to strategically reduce our print collections and allows for consistent borrowing and lending policies. But it also is important to be able to lend and borrow outside of the group.
Sharing outside of your group is more difficult – so be able to do this would be a great benefit.

11. What types of events and actions can RRSI do to help with any vendor/group neutral conversations? Explorations?

We need transparent journal subscription pricing across the board from vendors so we can make decisions to be good stewards of our institution’s money while paying a fair market price for publisher products.
Unambiguous licensing wording allowing or disallowing interlibrary loan of online content
Ditto for the above comment on licensing!
Same as above
Yes, wording for ebook licensing and ILL and/or fair use language; Ditto for any challenges that might crop up with publisher/author concerns about CDL applications; Streaming videos (either born digital streaming, or converting VHS/video or DVD) copyright and licensing vs. fair use/ILL concerns.
Making RS concerns known to vendors (content and systems)
All of the above
Licensing wording updates by vendors using antiquated standards (ie., only may send digitally via Ariel)
Keep things extensible.
Shared policies (e.g. due dates), shared turnaround time expectations
Take a more extensive poll on topics that folks feel the need to discuss communally. Then hold events with some form of speech at the beginning, then breakout discussions in smaller groups too
Licensing.
Work on courier and delivery standards.
Agree with courier and delivery standards.

Session assessment

12. What worked for you today in this session?

Venue for airing thoughts and experiences
Zoom & having one Google Doc instead of several
The Google Doc for additional thoughts was very helpful. A summary of what community users have said would also be helpful
The questions that were asked and the wealth of responses. Great management of zoom time. Thank you in advance for the summary.

13. What can we do to improve it?

Recording the session – be nice to share with staff that can’t attend “live” event
Ditto on recording
Courier expectations and processes for new ILL people
Recording

Thank you!

Information rec’d via email after RRSI sessions

How are you feeling about resource sharing now?

Right now research sharing is working pretty well, OCLC finally got the summary records correct enough to actually find what volumes many libraries have. So my life has been easier.
What’s working? Many new improvements in Tipasa, so things are working well for the most part.

What’s not working?

Pricing, OCLC has hid their pricing, it looks like we went from $12,000 for ILLiad to $40,000 for Tipasa. I know that Tipasa is around the same price as ILLiad, but this has caused so much angst in the Library. They want me to cancel Tipasa since that is the charge they are showing. With OCLC getting more and more expensive, the future holds these cuts. Also, so many times we are having a lot of trouble with pre-pubs from the Publishers. All of the faculty want the latest information, and many times libraries who own the electronic version of the publication (including us) do not have access to the prepub. Also, sometimes that pre-pub does not make it in the publication for years.

Where are you feeling the pressure (e.g. costs, financial pressure, framing expectations, other areas)?

Our main pressure is that since our Library has cut so deeply into the staff to save the collections, they have nothing left to cut except the collections. So they will soon probably cut items that we think are vital to the running of the library. They are looking at everything, and as they keep cutting journals, ILL will get busier, but they may also cut ILL products. We have been adding more duties to our jobs as people leave and the job does not get rehired. We who are left will always be busy, but what will our priorities become? Will ILL get lost in the ever changing shuffling of job tasks?

What trends are emerging as we open back up? How are you planning to meet them?

We have been extremely slow for ILL during the Pandemic, it will be interesting, once we go completely back to more in-person classes, if the ILL goes back up? They are still wanting to rehab the Library to be more student friendly and focused, but will be hiding most of the staff in the basement, keeping a lot of the Reference services as Chat or only if someone wants an appointment. Wondering if this will stop a lot of casual questions?

How do you see new technologies helping respond to all of the above?

If we are able to keep OCLC Tipasa, we will be able to add automation, but have found a lot of things that if we search the web, they are available free, so automation will cause more lending costs. Also, we need to look into alternatives to OCLC ILL, since we may not be able to afford it soon.

What would an ideal resource sharing X look like now? If we were rebuilding a resource sharing infrastructure from scratch would it all be Controlled Digital Lending based? Print be an afterthought?

What does resource sharing look like on a collective level

We are a part of a State-wide consortium, our Public University has 4 campuses and we have 2 huge Private Universities involved. The problem is the voting within the consortium. It is one vote per Library. We have over a hundred in the Consortium, and all voting is going towards the small library. The large Libraries are to be extreme net lenders for free, and most of the other libraries do not have their catalogs up for us to search, so we are not seeing much of a reason to stay except for good PR. We also tried to do Group collection development. That was a fail, One of the large libraries looked at the list, cut all of the journals the rest had so we could not cut them and then only buys EBooks. Without CDL we have no way to borrow any newer books. Within groups? Between groups? Internationally? The cost of International shipping is so high right now I have temporarily stop lending, and are only sending articles. If the costs stay the same we will have to stop International, and even to Canada, now that we have to do Customs forms to them. Are there tensions between consortial investment and RS eco-system

What types of events and actions can RRSI do to help with any vendor/group neutral conversations?

We need to find out what other library have done, or are in the process of working on to make things cheaper for all of us. Explorations?