Interlibrary Loan Practices Handbook. (3rd ed.)

Citation

Lee Eden, B. (2012), "Interlibrary Loan Practices Handbook. (3rd ed.)", Collection Building, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 166-166. https://doi.org/10.1108/01604951211274089

Interlibrary loan is a mainstay service of almost every library, providing access to information resources through collaborative borrowing and sharing during a time of continual budget cuts and collection service reductions. This handbook, now in its third edition, has also been a mainstay and guide for anyone involved in ILL for many years. The new edition has new editors and contributors, and the content has been updated for today's challenges and technology.

Chapter 1 provides an excellent introduction to interlibrary loan, documenting the history and development of this service. Chapter 2 examines borrowing workflow basics, discussing topics like renewals, billing, returnables and nonreturnables, and receiving ILL. Chapter 3 looks at the other side of ILL, lending workflow basics, documenting various procedures like scanning, photocopying, overdues, and statistics. Chapter 4 provides the basics of US copyright and ILL practice, discussing CONTU guidelines, responsibilities of both lenders and borrowers, issues related to electronic journals and nonbook formats, and international copyright law. Chapter 5 gets into the management of ILL, looking at the development of local policies and procedures, keeping statistics, cost management, staffing, and turnaround time. Chapter 6 gets into technology and Web 2.0, examining various ILL management systems such as WorldCat Resource Sharing, ILLiad, Clio, and Relais. Scanning equipment and software needed for ILL delivery and receiving are also mentioned. Web‐based finding aids such as open access materials and historical documents, as well as various communication tools, are featured. A list of web resources is provided. Chapter 7 discusses the future of ILL and issues such as information supply, fee‐based partners, free suppliers as partners, electronic books, and change factors for hybrid services in the future.

There are a number of helpful templates and appendices to assist both the novice and experienced ILL staff member. Useful bibliographies are provided at the end of every chapter, and an index helps to peruse the content of the book quickly and efficiently. This revised edition will be a standard reference work for this area of our profession.