Library News Spring 2002

.Interlibrary Loan Service

The LSUSD library continues to offer a full range of interlibrary loan (ILL) services. If you need a journal article, book, or other item that the LSUHSC libraries do not own, we can make requests to other libraries throughout the country to get it for you as quickly as possible.

The Forms
To make the process of requesting materials for interlibrary loan even easier, we have posted the ILL forms on the LSUSD library web site under the SERVICES heading. Fill out the Word form online, and send it to us as an e-mail attachment, or print out the form in PDF format, fill it out, and bring it in. As always, we have forms here behind the circulation desk for your convenience. Please be sure to fill out the whole form, answer all the questions, and make your request well in advance of the date you need the item. The due date for the item and any charge there might be are determined by t he lending library, not LSUSD.

The Methods
The library obtains ILL articles through many different means. The most traditional is the U.S. Postal Service. It takes the longest, but it is the only way we can get certain items from one place to another. The most popular way of sending and receiving journal articles is Ariel, which enables one library to scan an article and send it through the Internet to another. Ariel allows us to get a high quality copy of an article to you very quickly, sometimes the same day the request was made. Fax service is also available, but the copy quality is poor and long-distance telephone bills add up. There is a $5 surcharge on each faxed article. We ask that you not request a fax unless it is for a clinical emergency.

The Charges
The library is able to obtain most but not all requested materials free of charge. We have entered into reciprocal borrowing arrangements with several libraries throughout the south central region of the U.S., and, as a result, we do not charge each other for interlibrary loan transactions. Membership in this consortium has given us such great success in saving you money and allows us to deliver articles to you as quickly as possible. If we cannot obtain an article, book, or other item through our regular ILL lenders, we will have to go outside the consortium, and there will usually be a charge by the lending library. Costs for these materials tend to be between $9.00 and $15.00. These requests also take longer to fill.

The Law
Another thing to consider about obtaining journal articles is copyright law. For interlibrary loans, the vast and murky copyright law can be simplified into a couple of basic factors: time and amount. Within any calendar year, a library is allowed to borrow no more than five articles from any one journal published in the past five years. After the five-article limit has been reached, the library must pay copyright fees to the journal to obtain additional articles published in the past five years or wait to request the article until the next calendar year. A library is also not allowed to borrow more than one article from any one issue of a recent journal regardless of the five-article, five-year limit. If a library does request more than one article from an issue, it must pay copyright fees on the additional articles. In other words, even if no one else has made any requests for any articles from a journal, we cannot borrow more than one article within one issue without paying copyright fees. Therefore, we are not able to request an entire issue or supplement of a journal. Copyright fees vary greatly from journal to journal. Some are only $.10 per page while others charge a $30 base fee and then $1 per page or more. The librarian will let you know if your request will require paying copyright fees before she sends the request.

The Future
There are some great changes on the horizon for the interlibrary service here at LSUSD. This summer we will be implementing a new system called ILLiad. ILLiad will enable you to submit your ILL request to us via computer. Also, and most exciting, this system will allow you to access many of your articles electronically if you desire. No more coming into the library to pick up articles – all you will have to do is logon! We will update you closer to the time of implementation with more details and a schedule of classes on this new system.

--Julie Schiavo

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