2006 VIVA ILL Community Forum, Sweet Briar College, Virginia

Representatives from many VIVA libraries met at the Elston Conference Center at Sweet Briar College on July 21, 2006 for a day-long conference. The stated objective of the conference was to discuss VIVA Interlibrary Loan issues and learn about trends and new developments nationally as well as internationally. Dan Wilson, from the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library at UVa moderated the meeting. Joe Molloy, from the Sweet Briar College Library handled all the local arrangements and logistics on the day of the conference.

Forum program 2006-1.pdf

Evaluations of 2006 Forum-1.pdf

Dan Wilson, Chair of the VIVA ILL Subcommittee, was the Moderator for the meeting.  He welcomed participants and gave an overview of the schedule.

Presentation on Emergent Resource Sharing

Cyril Oberlander, of the University of Virginia, gave a presentation which explored this topic with a focus on new services and technologies, best practices for adaptation, and new partnerships.

Community Discussion Forum

Dan Wilson moderated a 45-minute group-wide discussion session, which touched on several predominant issues. Some highlights:

• Ariel vs Odyssey:

Larger institutions are experiencing difficulties with functionality and tech support for Ariel. Odyssey is free, but not supported except by the user community. Libraries from smaller institutions reported that Ariel is working well for them. A show of hands indicated that no one is using Odyssey exclusively, and most are using Ariel or a combination of the two.

The question was raised as to whether the larger institutions should make a concerted effort to convert to Odyssey, possibly asking VIVA to take the initiative in encouraging the shift. Stuart Frazer agreed to be the "point person" on this possibility.

Followup letter to this by Harry Kriz, via the VIVA ILL listserv: From Harry Kriz on Odyssey-1.pdf

• ILLiad and Clio:

The group agreed that it would be nice if everyone could afford ILLiad, which is currently used only by the larger institutions. The "one person shop" libraries cannot afford the expense of ILLiad. The question was asked: Can VIVA perhaps negotiate a better arrangement or price with ILLiad? Kathy said that the Resource Sharing Committee has investigated the possibility, but no conclusion has been reached.

• ILL Mentoring:

After hearing from many members about problems and solutions that are part of their work in so many different situations, the suggestion was made that perhaps we could create an online "community" for resource sharing, where each institution could have a profile of sorts, which would help to identify who has expertise in what areas, and who to contact for help.

Dan suggested creating a database of institutions willing to be mentors and to identify areas of strength. Cyril suggested using del.icio.us and tagging areas of specialty. Kathy agreed that if such an arrangement is made, it could be linked to the VIVA Resource Sharing page on the web. Cyril volunteered to set up a page on del.icio.us using a basic template. Other suggestions included setting up an internet discussion page, and that mentoring possibilities be grouped by area, for help with hands-on assistance.

• Miscellaneous issues:

Some concern was expressed about the security/IT issues inherent in using Ariel, since it must remain open all the time. There was also some uncertainty about copyright issues as they pertain to scanning and Ariel use. A third issue concerned courier/delivery services, such as Fed Ex and UPS. One of the larger institutions is using Fed Ex delivery to patrons' homes. The deliveries contain return labels for use by the patron.

eLicensing and ILL Panel Discussion

Kathy Perry, Paul Rittelmeyer, and Stuart Frazer each spoke briefly about different aspects of this issue.

• Kathy Perry (VIVA Director) gave an overview of the use of electronic resources in filling ILL requests, stating that two procedures are in practice: direct eILL, which sends an electronic document without the necessity for scanning, and indirect eILL, which requires scanning a print document and then sending the digital version electronically. To determine which vendors allow direct eILL without the possibility of copyright infringement, members can check the web site at http://www.vivalib.org/rsc/ILLContracts.html .

The use of eILLs can benefit our organizations in several ways: with many institutions cancelling print, our "No" responses to requests will increase unless we are able to use electronic sources, plus not all VIVA libraries have access to all the VIVA journals. Other benefits: potentially much faster, better copy quality, reduced staff time required for filling requests, bound journals remain on the shelf, and sending html files provides better tracking and counting.

• Paul Rittelmeyer (University of Virginia) spoke about "fair use" as it applies to eLicensing and ILL. Librarians have always been the primary proponents for fair use, believing that copyright law should be media-neutral. Current practice is to make decisions about when to use eILL by publisher, most of whom allow either direct or indirect, within the CONTU guidelines. There was a question regarding licensing and permissions/security, especially as it pertains to Blackboard. Kathy suggested sending a link rathan than an article. Most have persistent URLs. Kathy will ask the RSC to follow up.

• Stuart Frazer (Old Dominion University) said he represented "the people" who actually do the lending and borrowing. He observed that most libraries appear to be lending from e-sources now. Stuart spoke about the "Deflection" function in OCLC, by which libraries can edit their profiles for items not loaned by policy. He believes this feature disallows flexibility and would discourage its use. E-sources are still in an odd position as far as policies go, much like maps and microforms. There was a question about the use of e-sources in Blackboard. Stuart recommended encouraging faculty to incorporate the libraries in the Blackboard process.

Kathy asked if there was a consensus that VIVA should ask OCLC to remove the e-journal option for Deflection, and whether the RSG (Resource Sharing Group) of VIVA should agree not to say "No" to eILL requests. Eileen Hitchingham (Virginia Tech) recommended that the issue be discussed and a goal established, but no mandate be set up. Stuart pointed out that the guidelines for eILLs are already "best practices" rather than a mandate.

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