Collette Mak, Margaret Ellingson and Charla Lancaster
This paper aims to describe how data were used to design and evaluate new services at Notre Dame and how data were used to evaluate changes in user behavior at Emory University…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to describe how data were used to design and evaluate new services at Notre Dame and how data were used to evaluate changes in user behavior at Emory University.
Design/methodology/approach
Each library (Emory, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Notre Dame) describe sources, methods and applications of data, gathered through a variety of sources to plan and evaluate new services and user satisfaction.
Findings
There is no one perfect approach to data-informed decision making; every approach has advantages, costs and disadvantages. What is important is that resource sharing practitioners become comfortable with a variety of assessment tools.
Originality/value
The user experience is increasingly recognized as a critical part of any service or library product but most resource sharing practitioners have little to no background in assessment and statistics. This article provides an introduction to methods, sources and applications of data specifically applied to interlibrary loans.
Details
Keywords
This paper seeks to examine the application of e‐commerce practices in libraries and the effect of those practices on interlibrary loan traffic among research libraries in the USA.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to examine the application of e‐commerce practices in libraries and the effect of those practices on interlibrary loan traffic among research libraries in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper identifies key e‐commerce features and where parallel features exist in the discovery and request processes. In an age of unprecedented information access, instant communication, and large‐scale commercial information sources, the growth of interlibrary loan among US research libraries cannot be attributed solely to cost. A major factor in the continued growth of interlibrary loan must be, in part, attributed to the adoption by libraries of standard e‐commerce practices.
Findings
The author's research indicates that adoption of standard e‐commerce practices by libraries has resulted in a dramatic increase of interlibrary loan traffic among research libraries in the USA.
Originality/value
The research conducted for this paper is original and the findings add a unique perspective to the value of e‐commerce practices in libraries by focusing on the impact those services have had on interlibrary loan operations.
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Keywords
This paper aims to identify the factors that have led the USA to be one of the few countries in the world that has seen interlending and document supply continue to increase.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the factors that have led the USA to be one of the few countries in the world that has seen interlending and document supply continue to increase.
Design/methodology/approach
The factors are identified, reviewed and assessed.
Findings
It was found that the effectiveness of resource sharing facilitated by intra‐ and inter‐state cooperatives using OCLC as a framework is a major factor, others being the improvement in discovery tools, requesting processes and the more recent improvements in the delivery process. Finally, the widespread subsidizing of access and delivery enables cheap or even free use of document supply.
Originality/value
This paper is the only study so far that addresses the current puzzle of US “exceptionalism” for interlending and document supply.
Details
Keywords
Discusses some of the implications of the Internet for interlibrarylending operations. Examines the benefits for ILL managers of comparingoperations and ideas with those found in…
Abstract
Discusses some of the implications of the Internet for interlibrary lending operations. Examines the benefits for ILL managers of comparing operations and ideas with those found in other lending institutions.