Location
Poster Session
Start Date
11-10-2019 3:30 PM
End Date
11-10-2019 5:00 PM
Type of Work
Poster
Description
Objective: Background: In response to the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) ILL service increase from $9 to $12, and in preparation for an upcoming retreat discussion in April 2018, the Consortium of Southern Biomedical Libraries (CONBLS) polled its 21 member libraries for ILL fills and borrows to and from other CONBLS libraries for calendar years 2016 and 2017.
Methods: To analyze three years of data, 2018 ILL statistics was requested from CONBLS libraries and permission was obtained to use it and the previously collected 2016 and 2017 ILL CONBLS statistics for this poster. Data was combined in Excel and analyzed for trends.
Results: Requested 2018 ILL statistics were received from 20 of 21 CONBLS institutions. Data showed that the number of fills declined in the case of 12 libraries, while the other 9 libraries experienced increases. There was an overall 19 percent decrease in the number of fills. In the case of borrows, 15 libraries saw decreases while 6 libraries showed increases. Overall, there was a slight increase of 1 percent in the number of borrows.
Conclusions: The decline in overall CONBLS ILL services was not unexpected and reflects the decline in certain more traditional services in academic medical libraries. There are numerous factors affecting ILL use and among them are the proliferation of open access publications; Patron-Driven Acquisition; library subsidized pay-for-view; technologies that facilitate ease of information sharing; the availability of extensive digital back-files; and more restrictive publishers' licensing agreements. Even though ILL use has declined, it still plays an important role in providing needed resources to library users, helping libraries understand the needs of their users, and serving as an important tool in collection development. The discrepancy between a 19.16% decrease in fills and relatively stable number of borrows (+1.15%) over three years indicates that the CONBLS libraries were unable to provide what their users needed in 2018 at the same level they were able to in 2016. This may be due to flat or decreased budgets resulting is fewer lendable resources and less staff to provide ILL services. It is an indicator of the libraries’ decreasing ability to serve the information needs of their patrons through Interlibrary Loan Services.
Included in
Collection Development and Management Commons, Health Sciences and Medical Librarianship Commons
Three Year Trend in Interlibrary Loan Requests
Poster Session
Objective: Background: In response to the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) ILL service increase from $9 to $12, and in preparation for an upcoming retreat discussion in April 2018, the Consortium of Southern Biomedical Libraries (CONBLS) polled its 21 member libraries for ILL fills and borrows to and from other CONBLS libraries for calendar years 2016 and 2017.
Methods: To analyze three years of data, 2018 ILL statistics was requested from CONBLS libraries and permission was obtained to use it and the previously collected 2016 and 2017 ILL CONBLS statistics for this poster. Data was combined in Excel and analyzed for trends.
Results: Requested 2018 ILL statistics were received from 20 of 21 CONBLS institutions. Data showed that the number of fills declined in the case of 12 libraries, while the other 9 libraries experienced increases. There was an overall 19 percent decrease in the number of fills. In the case of borrows, 15 libraries saw decreases while 6 libraries showed increases. Overall, there was a slight increase of 1 percent in the number of borrows.
Conclusions: The decline in overall CONBLS ILL services was not unexpected and reflects the decline in certain more traditional services in academic medical libraries. There are numerous factors affecting ILL use and among them are the proliferation of open access publications; Patron-Driven Acquisition; library subsidized pay-for-view; technologies that facilitate ease of information sharing; the availability of extensive digital back-files; and more restrictive publishers' licensing agreements. Even though ILL use has declined, it still plays an important role in providing needed resources to library users, helping libraries understand the needs of their users, and serving as an important tool in collection development. The discrepancy between a 19.16% decrease in fills and relatively stable number of borrows (+1.15%) over three years indicates that the CONBLS libraries were unable to provide what their users needed in 2018 at the same level they were able to in 2016. This may be due to flat or decreased budgets resulting is fewer lendable resources and less staff to provide ILL services. It is an indicator of the libraries’ decreasing ability to serve the information needs of their patrons through Interlibrary Loan Services.