This document summarizes a presentation about revising resource sharing policies and opening up library collections for interlibrary loan lending. The presentation discusses the history of interlibrary loan dating back to ancient Alexandria, best practices for efficient lending, strategies for advocating for broader lending policies using data and examples from peer institutions, and considerations for lending different formats like books, microfilm, audiovisual materials, and e-resources both domestically and internationally. The goal is to encourage libraries to change their resource sharing tune and foster a greater sense of community through open collection sharing.

1. Let It Go:
How to Revise Your
Resource Sharing Policies
& Open Up Your Library
Collections for ILL Lending
Tom Bruno
Yale University

2. About that title…

3. Worst Theme Ever?

4. Should have kept his day job…

5. Better?

6. Besides, there’ll always be the sequel!

7. Overview
• Why Lend? i.e., The Circle of Resource Sharing
Karma
• The Importance of Best Practices in ILL
Lending
• Advocating for Broader Lending Policies
• Resource Sharing and the Future of Libraries

8. My Goal
I promise no karaoke,
but hope many of you
decide to change your
tune about your ILL
Lending policies!

9. Also, apologies for the earworm…

10. (…and for this one, in advance!)

11. FINAL DISCLAIMER
• I, too, am a sinner
• I’ve been trying to repent
• It’s never too late, and every little bit helps!

12. A song of fire and… fire

13. …or a librarian!

14. The Oldest Profession
• As long as libraries have existed, there has
been ILL
• Earliest recorded instance of ILL goes back
to the reign of Ptolemy III “Euergetes”
(246-222 BC) of Alexandria
• Ptolemy borrowed the collected works of
Euripides, Sophocles, and Aeschylus from
the Athenians
• Athens demanded a deposit of 15 silver
talents = $300,000
• The Great Library kept the originals and
sent back copies, forfeiting their deposit

15. Lessons learned?
• ILL Lending is not for the faint of heart!
• Sometimes things are going to go wrong-
instead of letting it deter you, learn from your
mistakes to assess/enhance/improve your
services
• Lending may confer many practical benefits,
but sharing is always its own good

16. Why Lend?
• One library can not own
everything- ILL has evolved
from supplement to
cornerstone of collection
development strategy
• Cancelled or Expired
Requests Mean People
Dropping You From Their
Lending Strings
• Fewer Lending Requests =
Less Work for Staff, Less
Lending Revenue, Less
Willingness to Assist You
With Special Requests
Billy S. = Worst ILL Librarian EVER

17. Don’t forget the Karma!
• By sharing your resources with other libraries,
you are helping to foster a sense of
community
• More libraries willing to trust each other and
share AROUND THE WORLD!

18. It’s almost like… some kind of circle…

19. Enter My Simba Twice?
(Curse you, OCLC, for ruining a good joke!)

20. Best Practices in ILL Lending
• It’s easier to make a case for expanding your
Lending if your ILL operations are already
efficient and transparent
• Check your OCLC statistics- how many of your
requests “age out” or expire to the next
lender?
• When you cancel requests, what are your
major Reasons for No?

21. Strategies for Opening Your Collections
• Opening up collections
may seem like a practical
decision for you, but it is
often perceived as a
political decision by
others
• Try to understand your
nay-sayers’ motivations in
order to allay their fears
• Your toolkit= your peers,
your own customers, your
data

22. Advocating for Broader Lending Policies
• Look to your peers!
• Your resource sharing
colleagues may have
already presented or
published about their
own experiences in
opening up local
collections or formats

23. Example: A/V At U of D
• Megan Gaffney's excellent analysis of making
A/V materials eligible for ILL Lending at the
University of Delaware Libraries:
• https://www.atlas-
sys.com/conference2012/presentations/Lendi
ng%20Audiovisual%20Materials%20on%20ILL.
pdf

24. Gather anecdotes/encouragement
from your lending partners
• Co-opt your critics into
your allies
• Record each time you do
or don’t make a special
exception to your lending
rules
• Demonstrate the cost to
your organization (staff
and $$$) to saying “no” or
making special
arrangements every time

25. Don’t forget Murphy’s Law!
• The chances of a “special” request going
wrong are much higher than during the
processing of a normal ILL Lending request
• If something does go wrong, don't be afraid to
leverage this failure as ammunition for
opening up these requests to your normal
Lending workflows!

26. Make Your Case With Data
• Are your Collection
Development librarians
concerned about loss
rates?
• Most ILL Lending has a
much lower lost item rate
than regular circulation to
your own patrons
• Highlight the role of
resource sharing in the
overall circulation
statistics for items in your
library collection.

27. Bro, do you even pivot table?
• IMPORTANT: Be sure you are familiar with
your own ILL data before trying to convince
others to open up your library’s collections
• Even willing participants will require some
form of assessment
• Know your data so that it tells the story you
want it to tell, when you need to tell it!

28. Other Considerations- Books

29. In other words, “Let it go…”
• If you’re going to let it go in the first place,
make sure the patron can actually use it!
• Remember that a lot of a shorter loan period
is eaten up by processing and shipping
• Longer loan periods= fewer renewal requests
• Even in the case of renewals, why not renew
unless the item has been held/recalled?

30. Considerations for Loaning Microfilm
• More is more- patrons are
usually working their way
through entire runs of a
serial
• If you loan, consider loaning
everything at once instead
of following your normal
item limit for ILL
• Saves you and the
borrowing library from
managing multiple orders!
• If shipping is a factor,
consider charging full cost
for one-time shipping
“It’s on micro-WHAT?”

31. Considerations for Loaning A/V
• Is the movie scheduled?
Frequently used in the
last few months?
• Can it be replaced? What
would the replacement
cost be? Should it be dark
archived before lending
(yes, you can do this)?
• Are there licensing
restrictions? – mainly
artists’ films and
motivational titles

32. Considerations for Loaning E-Resources
• Check your licenses to see
if you’re allowed to lend
• Work with your Collection
Development or e-
Resource librarian to
negotiate better licenses
• Remember, license
trumps copyright law, but
if your license is silent you
may be able to lend!

33. Going International

34. You Are An Ambassador!
1. To your own
patrons
2. To other libraries
3. To other nations
(Yes, my students
photoshopped this.
Aren’t they
awesome?)

35. The A, B, C’s of International ILL
Lending
Accept multiple forms of payment:
OCLC IFM, IFLA Vouchers, Credit Cards, etc. Make it
as easy as possible for international libraries to pay
Be willing to lend!
Consider your international borrowing partners
when designing your library portal and ILL
webpages

36. Other International Lending
Considerations
• Use a method of shipping which you can
INSURE AND TRACK (HINT: Most International
ILL borrowers are willing to pay extra to defray
your shipping costs)
• Customs: If you are shipping to a country with
“tricky” customs practices (cough cough
Canada), be sure you mark your packages
appropriately

37. Just Do It!
• By sharing your
resources with
international libraries,
you are fostering a
sense of international
community
• More libraries willing to
trust each other and
share AROUND THE
WORLD!

38. Resource Sharing and Future of Libraries
• Some have branded ILL
“a necessary evil”, a
failure of local
collections to meet
library patrons’ needs
• The reality of course is
that no one library can
ever meet the
information needs of all
of its patrons

39. One collection, one community

40. This is your Lorax moment
• Consider Alexandria and
the Ancient Athenians
• What would have
happened to those
tragedies if Athens
hadn’t loaned them to
Egypt?
• The modern resource
sharing ecology is
robust yet fragile at the
same time

41. Postapocalyptic ILL Lending?

42. Questions? Comments? Karaoke?

43. THANK YOU CONNECTICUT!
Tom Bruno
Associate Director for
Resource Sharing and Reserves
Yale University Library
tom.bruno@yale.edu
Twitter: @oodja