Borrowing trouble? The impact of a systematic review service on interlibrary loan borrowing in an academic health sciences library.

BACKGROUND: With the mandate to review all available literature in the study's inclusion parameters, systematic review projects are likely to require full-text access to a significant number of articles that are not available in a library's collection, thereby necessitating ordering content via interlibrary loan (ILL). The aim of this study is to understand what effect a systematic review service has on the copyright royalty fees accompanying ILL requests at an academic health sciences library. CASE PRESENTATION: The library created a custom report using ILLiad data to look specifically at 2018 ILL borrowing requests that were known to be part of systematic reviews. This subset of borrowing activity was then analyzed to determine its impact on the library's copyright royalty expenditures for the year. In 2018, copyright eligible borrowing requests that were known to be part of systematic reviews represented only approximately 5% of total filled requests that involved copyright eligible borrowing. However, these systematic review requests directly or indirectly caused approximately 10% of all the Spencer S. Eccles Library copyright royalty expenditures for 2018 requests. CONCLUSION: Based on the sample data set, the library's copyright royalty expenditures did increase, but the overall financial impact was modest.

A journal cancellation survey and resulting impact on interlibrary loan.

OBJECTIVE: The research describes an extensible method of evaluating and cancelling electronic journals during a budget shortfall and evaluates implications for interlibrary loan (ILL) and user satisfaction. METHODS: We calculated cost per use for cancellable electronic journal subscriptions (n=533) from the 2013 calendar year and the first half of 2014, cancelling titles with cost per use greater than $20 and less than 100 yearly uses. For remaining titles, we issued an online survey asking respondents to rank the importance of journals to their work. Finally, we gathered ILL requests and COUNTER JR2 turnaway reports for calendar year 2015. RESULTS: Three hundred fifty-four respondents completed the survey. Because of the level of heterogeneity of titles in the survey as well as respondents' backgrounds, most titles were reported to be never used. We developed criteria based on average response across journals to determine which to cancel. Based on this methodology, we cancelled eight journals. Examination of ILL data revealed that none of the cancelled titles were requested with any frequency. Free-text responses indicated, however, that many value free ILL as a suitable substitute for immediate full-text access to biomedical journal literature. CONCLUSIONS: Soliciting user feedback through an electronic survey can assist collections librarians to make electronic journal cancellation decisions during slim budgetary years. This methodology can be adapted and improved upon at other health sciences libraries.

Breaking inertia: increasing access to journals during a period of declining budgets: a case study.

Beginning in January 2012, a 1-year pilot pay-per-view (PPV) service was implemented. Twenty-four journal subscriptions were canceled to fund the service, and through the PPV service, the library was able to offer patrons access to over 700 previously unavailable biomedical journals. At the end of the pilot period, the total PPV cost for each journal accessed was compared to the subscription cost to determine if PPV was an effective use of library money. While remaining essentially budget neutral, the number of full-text articles accessed increased over 400%. PPV can be a cost-effective method for expanding access to journals.

A national survey of UK health libraries investigating the cost of interlibrary loan services and assessing the accessibility to key orthopaedic journals.

BACKGROUND: NHS Library Services are utilised by NHS staff and junior trainees to locate scientific papers that provide them with the evidence base required for modern medical practice. The cost of accessing articles can be considerable particularly for junior trainees. OBJECTIVES: This survey looks at variations in cost of journal article loans and investigates access to particular orthopaedic journals across the country. METHODS: A national survey of UK Health Libraries was performed. Access to and costs of journals and interlibrary loan services were assessed. Availability of five wide-reaching orthopaedic journals was investigated. RESULTS: Seven hundred and ten libraries were identified. One hundred and ten libraries completed the questionnaire (16.7%). Of these, 96.2% reported free access to scientific journals for users. 99.1% of libraries used interlibrary loan services with 38.2% passing costs on to the user at an average of £2.99 per article. 72.7% of libraries supported orthopaedic services. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (British) had greatest onsite availability. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrates fluctuations in cost of access to interlibrary loan services and variation in access to important orthopaedic journals. It provides a reflection of current policy of charging for the acquisition of medical evidence by libraries in the UK.

Pay-per-view in interlibrary loan: a case study.

QUESTION: Can purchasing articles from publishers be a cost-effective method of interlibrary loan (ILL) for libraries owing significant copyright royalties? SETTING: The University of Nebraska Medical Center's McGoogan Library of Medicine provides the case study. METHOD: Completed ILL requests that required copyright payment were identified for the first quarter of 2009. The cost of purchasing these articles from publishers was obtained from the publishers' websites and compared to the full ILL cost. A pilot period of purchasing articles from the publisher was then conducted. RESULTS: The first-quarter sample data showed that approximately $500.00 could have been saved if the articles were purchased from the publisher. The pilot period and continued purchasing practice have resulted in significant savings for the library. CONCLUSION: Purchasing articles directly from the publisher is a cost-effective method for libraries burdened with high copyright royalty payments.

Cost effectiveness of a medical digital library.

The rapid increase in the price of electronic journals has made the optimization of collection management an urgent task. As there is currently no standard procedure for the evaluation of this problem, we applied the Reading Factor (RF), an electronically computed indicator used for consultation of individual articles. The aim of our study was to assess the cost effective impact of modifications in our digital library (i.e. change of access from the Intranet to the Internet or change in editorial policy). The digital OVID library at Rouen University Hospital continues to be cost-effective in comparison with the interlibrary loan costs. Moreover, when electronic versions are offered alongside a limited amount of interlibrary loans, a reduction in library costs was observed.

Trends in the use of DOCLINE and the OCLC ILL subsystem 1986-1992.

An examination of interlibrary loan statistics from 1986 through 1992 at the Health Sciences Library (HSL), State University of New York at Buffalo, revealed that the numbers of requests received via DOCLINE increased steadily over this period. Meanwhile, the numbers of requests received via OCLC rose from 1986 to 1989 but then declined steadily from 1989 to 1992. To understand and interpret these trends, a survey of various libraries that obtain material from HSL was conducted to collect data on their use of DOCLINE and OCLC. Analysis of the data confirmed that the use of DOCLINE was on the increase, especially in health sciences libraries, and that in some of these libraries requests for documents via OCLC were on the decline. The ratio of requests via DOCLINE versus OCLC ranged from 2:1 to 5:1. In the non-health sciences libraries that request from HSL, use of DOCLINE is minimal compared to that of OCLC.

SAIL: automating interlibrary loan.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) initiated the System for Automated Interlibrary Loan (SAIL) pilot project to study the feasibility of using imaging technology linked to the DOCLINE system to deliver copies of journal articles. During the project, NLM converted a small number of print journal issues to electronic form, linking the captured articles to the MEDLINE citation unique identifier. DOCLINE requests for these journals that could not be filled by network libraries were routed to SAIL. Nearly 23,000 articles from sixty-four journals recently selected for indexing in Index Medicus were scanned to convert them to electronic images. During fiscal year 1992, 4,586 scanned articles were used to fill 10,444 interlibrary loan (ILL) requests, and more than half of these were used only once. Eighty percent of all the articles were not requested at all. The total cost per article delivered was $10.76, substantially more than it costs to process a photocopy request. Because conversion costs were the major component of the total SAIL cost, and most of the articles captured for the project were not requested, this model was not cost-effective. Data on SAIL journal article use was compared with all ILL requests filled by NLM for the same period. Eighty-eight percent of all articles requested from NLM were requested only once. The results of the SAIL project demonstrated that converting journal articles to electronic images and storing them in anticipation of repeated requests would not meet NLM's objective to improve interlibrary loan.

A unique approach to multi-state networking: BHSL (Basic Health Sciences Network).

Development of a reciprocal multi-state shared resources network is described. The Basic Health Sciences Library Network (BHSL) is one the largest interlibrary loan networks free of direct charges to participants and any direct federal or state funding. Established in June 1986, BHSL started with 132 member libraries from three northeastern states. Current membership is 460 libraries in 10 states. Interlibrary loan activity for 1992 resulted in a collective cost savings of $592,672. This model of resource sharing can be applied to any group of libraries that access a common locator tool.

The consequences of offering fee-based services in a medical library.

Fee-based services may influence, both subtly and dramatically, the operation of a medical library. Fears that have been raised about the consequences of fee-based services are recalled and applied to the context of medical librarianship. Specifically covered are the effects of fee-based services on service to traditional user groups, collection development, interlibrary cooperation, and management style. The discussion includes references to the program of fee-based services offered by the New York Academy of Medicine Library.

A microcomputer-based, net-lending interlibrary loan system.

A microcomputer-based, net-lending interlibrary loan system was developed at Lane Medical Library, Stanford University. The system, designed to generate the monthly billing invoices and all necessary statistical reports, has reduced the time required for logging-in procedures and compilation of monthly, quarterly, and annual statistics. User menus, help screens, and choice fields were developed explicitly for library staff who have little or no computer experience. The program was written using the DataEase database management software running on IBM PC, XT, AT, or compatible with a minimum of 512K RAM. Described are features of this automated interlibrary loan management system and its use in a net-lending interlibrary loan department. It focuses on data entry in the "Library Directory" and "ILL Log Sheet," details of billing invoices, and statistical reports, and flexibility in modifying tax rates, borrowing fees, and other parameters.