Research Highlights: "Academic Interlibrary Loan Benchmarks, 2011 Edition"

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Academic Interlibrary Loan Benchmarks presents the results of a survey of the interlibrary loan operations of 75 academic libraries predominantly in the USA, the UK and Canada. The 140 page report presents data on staffing, budgeting, shipping expenses and other facets of interlibrary loan departmental management. The study also offers details on the impact of eBooks, digital repositories, and distance learning programs on interlibrary loan practices.

The report also covers developments in consortiums, state networks, the negotiation of interlibrary loan contract terms with information providers, work flow studies, automation, fee structure and other facets of and issues in interlibrary loan in a higher education setting. Data is broken out by size and type of library and for public and private institutions.

Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:

–     The median aggregate 3-year increase in the use of interlibrary loan for the libraries in the sample was 14%.

–     Mean turnaround time for articles borrowed was 3.03 days but the range was extraordinary, from 0.50 to 8.67 days. Private colleges had a somewhat better record than the public colleges. – 2.61 days to 3.3 days.

–     On average, institutions in the sample spent a little more than $3,500 on shipping charges related to interlibrary loan, yet at least one research university spent $33,000 on such services.

–     A hair less than half of ILL service departments (48.68%) require an MLS/MLIS-holding librarian to supervise operations.

–     More than three-quarters (77.33%) of the interlibrary loan units of the institutions surveyed have not performed workflow studies to review practices and staffing.

Info via ResearchandMarkets.com (PDF)

A Couple of Pages from the Actual Report (Word D0c) and the Complete Table of Contents Are Available

Filed under: Academic Libraries, Data Files, Funding, Libraries, Management and Leadership, Open Access