[Workflowtoolkit-l] when a lending request is freely available on internet

[Nathan Hosburgh]

I would like to make a distinction here between DOAJ content and "freely available on the web".  If we receive a request and we have it via DOAJ, we will fill it.  But, we are not going to scour the Web for potentially free content (author's website, IRs, etc.) and then deliver that to the borrower.  We fill 95% of requests for free and if we fill something from DOAJ, we fill it for free as well.  This seems like a more efficient use of time and resources than either cancelling or sending a conditional.  Of course, internal policies will have a bearing on workflow/flexibility in this case.

Nathan Hosburgh
Document Delivery Librarian
Evans Library
Florida Institute of Technology
150 W. University Blvd.
Melbourne, FL 32901
(321) 674-7540
nhosburg at fit.edu

From: workflowtoolkit-l-bounces at geneseo.edu [mailto:workflowtoolkit-l-bounces at geneseo.edu] On Behalf Of J A Ellison
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2011 11:29 AM
To: ILLiad Best Practices Workflow Toolkit
Subject: Re: [Workflowtoolkit-l] when a lending request is freely available on internet

I've taken the route of using a conditional when I find something freely available on the web, whether it's a legal copy of an article or a complete report. I do this because we aren't a free lender, and I don't think it would be fair to charge them for something they can download free. I'm willing to be convinced that I should fill from the free source and cancel the charges, but I'm not sure it would fly.

Joe Ellison
Document Delivery and Digital Initiatives Assistant
Transportation Library, Northwestern University
phone: (847)491-8600
j-ellison at northwestern.edu<mailto:j-ellison at northwestern.edu>

From: workflowtoolkit-l-bounces at geneseo.edu<mailto:workflowtoolkit-l-bounces at geneseo.edu> [mailto:workflowtoolkit-l-bounces at geneseo.edu]<mailto:[mailto:workflowtoolkit-l-bounces at geneseo.edu]> On Behalf Of Nathan Hosburgh
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 4:13 PM
To: ILLiad Best Practices Workflow Toolkit
Subject: Re: [Workflowtoolkit-l] when a lending request is freely available on internet

Hi Elizabeth,

We have numerous journals from DOAJ available from our Serials Solutions A-Z list.  As a lender, we fill these in addition to any we pay for.

The rationale:

*         We're a net borrower, so it doesn't hurt to boost our lending stats.

*         We're already looking at the request and it doesn't take us much time to fill.

*         If you cancel with such a reason, the borrowing library would not see the reason "Freely available on the internet".  They would see whatever generic OCLC code you had mapped your reason to.  Your reason would be used more internally within your organization.  (correct me if I'm wrong here)

*         Even if the borrowing library did see your reason "Freely available on the internet", they may not see it for many days, based on where you were in the lending string.  They could have had the material delivered to them (even though it's OA) if you would have filled instead of cancelling.

*         You could notify the borrower that it is "freely available on the internet" by sending them a conditional... but from my perspective, that's more of a waste of time.

I'm happy to hear that you have taken the plunge and turned off the deflection of e-serials!  I do believe we catch 95% of OA material on our Borrowing side before we send requests out, but not everyone has that type of workflow.

Nate

Nathan Hosburgh
Document Delivery Librarian
Evans Library
Florida Institute of Technology
150 W. University Blvd.
Melbourne, FL 32901
(321) 674-7540
nhosburg at fit.edu<mailto:nhosburg at fit.edu>

From: workflowtoolkit-l-bounces at geneseo.edu<mailto:workflowtoolkit-l-bounces at geneseo.edu> [mailto:workflowtoolkit-l-bounces at geneseo.edu]<mailto:[mailto:workflowtoolkit-l-bounces at geneseo.edu]> On Behalf Of Elizabeth Burden
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2011 4:03 PM
To: workflowtoolkit-l at geneseo.edu<mailto:workflowtoolkit-l at geneseo.edu>
Subject: [Workflowtoolkit-l] when a lending request is freely available on internet

*Please excuse cross-posting*

Hi everyone,

We've taken the plunge and turn off e-serials deflection for most of our borrowers' requests so that we can participate more in lending, not just borrowing (good karma!).  Our first request came in and was for something that, while in our holdings as part of our Serials Solutions package, is freely available on the internet.  In our A-Z list, it's part of the Directory of Open Access Journals.  We cancelled the request with the reason "Freely available on the internet".

Since this is our first e-serials request, this was our first experience of another library asking us for something freely available.  For those with more e-serials ILL experience, is this common?  How do you all recommend handling it?

Thanks for any & all insights!


Elizabeth Burden
Access Services Librarian
Boreham Library
University of Arkansas-Fort Smith
(479)788-7245
Elizabeth.Burden at uafs.edu
http://www.facebook.com/borehamlibrary


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