Interlibrary Loan

Number: LS-4

Title: Interlibrary Loan Requirements

Cancels: August 24, 1995

Approved: September 10, 2003

Review: September 10, 2006

I. PURPOSE AND SCOPE

The Brevard County Library System, as a member of the Florida Library Information Network (FLIN), is committed to making the information and materials held in the Brevard County Library System accessible to all citizens and residents throughout the state through formal resource sharing and interlibrary cooperation. The Brevard County Library System adheres to all FLIN procedures as outlined in the FLIN Interlibrary Loan Manual.

II. DEFINITIONS AND REFERENCES

A. OCLC - Online Computer Library Center, Inc., based in Dublin, Ohio, a computer network with a shared database used for cataloging and Interlibrary Loan.

B. SOLINET - Southeastern Library Network, based in Atlanta, Georgia, a regional computer network with a shared database serving OCLC customers in the southeastern United States.

C. SOLINE - the Interlibrary Loan protocol of SOLINET.

D. FLIN - Florida Library Information Network, based in Tallahassee, Florida, serving Florida Libraries for Interlibrary Loan.

E. CFLC - Central Florida Library Consortium, a central Florida network.

F. Protocol - the system used by each network to filter Interlibrary Loan requests through a strategic system of distribution in order that the workload can be equitably shared.

G. Brevard County Interlibrary Loan Protocol - a protocol specifying the Central Brevard Library & Reference Center as the first loaning library, followed by Homebound Services and all other libraries within the Brevard County Library System in reverse order of collection size.

H. Handcarries - Interlibrary Loan transactions in which the patron receives a completed ALA/ILL form from the borrowing library and physically takes the form to the owning library to pick up the material.

I. Subject Request - a request for library materials for which a specific bibliographic citation is not available.
J. Brevard County Library System Interlibrary Loan Request Form.

K. American Library Association/Interlibrary Loan Form (ALA/ILL form).

L. Procedure LS-3, Circulation and Loan Rules.

M. Fines and Fees Resolution - the latest resolution approved by the Brevard Board of County Commissioners establishing fines and fees charged by the Brevard County Library System.

N. Unable to Locate - OCLC term for requests for which bibliographic information is incomplete and search does not result in a loan.

O. Unfilled - OCLC term for requests for which holders are located, but no library is able to provide a copy.

P. Cannot Supply - State library term for requests for which all loaning resources have been exhausted and search does not result in a loan. For further information, see FLIN Manual, "Responses to Requests".

III. SPECIFIC TITLE REQUESTS

A. When requests for materials cannot be satisfied by the existing materials of the Brevard County Library System's collection, the librarian shall verify the existence of the title in WorldCat, the OCLC public access database located via First Search. In accordance with FLIN & CFLC policies, materials meeting any of the following criteria cannot be requested.
1. Any titles currently on the New York Times and/or local bestseller lists.
2. Materials needed to fill current and/or recurring local demand.
3. Materials needed to replace periodical subscriptions.
4. Materials owned by the requesting library but not available for circulation.
5. Materials published in the preceeding six (6) months.

B. Librarians will supply the following information for each request: author, title, publisher, copyright date, and the accession/OCLC number obtained from WorldCat. The Brevard County Library System Interlibrary Loan Request Form shall be completed with all requested information.

C. Request titles which cannot be located in WorldCat cannot be processed as WorldCat and the OCLC ILL database contain the same records.

D. Completed request forms are submitted immediately to the Brevard County OCLC Interlibrary Loan Staff, who processes requests according to FLIN procedures. The Brevard County Library System does not borrow from fee-charging libraries without first notifying the patron. The patron will be responsible for all fees charged by the owning library. Patrons will be asked the maximum amount they are willing to pay if charged by the owning library.

E. Requests processed through the OCLC system which cannot be filled will be marked to notify the requesting library of the status of the request.

1. Unfilled requests may be resubmitted a second time after 30 days.

2. Cannot supply requests may be resubmitted a second time after 30 days.

IV. REQUESTS FOR PERIODICAL PHOTOCOPIES

A. Photocopies from periodicals may be requested following FLIN procedure for "Specific Title Requests", using special verification tools such as: Ulrich's, Gale Directory of Publications, and other appropriate sources.

B. Periodical requests must include a full bibliographic citation, including periodical title, volume, date, page number, author and title of article. The ISSN must be included and can be found in the EBSCO Directory and other sources.

C. All requests must be submitted on the proper periodical request form and the patron asked for the maximum he/she is willing to pay. All requests must indicate copyright compliance, CCG or CCL. CCG is checked when a copyrighted article requested is less than five years old. CCL is checked when a requested article is more than five year old. For further information, see FLIN Manual, "Periodical/Photocopy Request Form".

V. SUBJECT SEARCHES

The Brevard County Library OCLC Interlibrary Loan Librarian is not responsible for individual library's subject requests. The requesting library staff will obtain as much information from the patron as possible to determine what materials are needed. The Librarian will then exhaust all local resources, including county-wide subject search through the Central Brevard Library & Reference Center, before submitting the subject request. For specific guidelines, see FLIN Manual, "Subject Requests Form". Requests must be mailed directly to the State Library of Florida.

VI. ILL CIRCULATION REQUIREMENTS

A. Materials lent to other libraries:

1. When requests for materials are received by the Brevard County OCLC Interlibrary Loan Librarian, the Librarian will determine which library owns the material. If more than one library owns the material, the Brevard County Interlibrary Loan Protocol will be followed.

2. If available for loan, the Brevard County Library System shall lend and mail the material at no charge. Material shall be lent if it meets the criteria for loans as outlined in the FLIN Manual, "General Policies of FLIN", and is not reference material or in high local demand. Other material may be loaned at the discretion of the owning library.

3. If no libraries are able to fill the request, the Brevard County OCLC Interlibrary Loan Librarian will follow FLIN/OCLC procedures to notify the requesting library.

4. When a library agrees to loan material, it shall, within one day, check the material out to its OCLC ILL patron card and send to the Brevard County OCLC Interlibrary Loan Librarian. When the material is received by the OCLC Interlibrary Loan Staff, it will be returned on the circulation system and checked out to the OCLC ILL patron card using the Technical Processing Agency Code to avoid duplicate statistics. The borrowing library will be given a loan period of sixty days for each Interlibrary Loan transaction with no renewal. The Librarian will send the material to the borrowing library.

5. Borrowing libraries shall return materials, by mail, to the Brevard County OCLC Interlibrary Loan Office. The materials will be returned on the circulation system and any fines cleared. The materials will be returned, via courier, to the owning library. To alleviate impact on the ILL staff some materials may be returned directly to the owning library by the borrowing library. Library staff will forward all accompanying paperwork to the ILL Office.

6. If materials are overdue, an overdue notice will be generated and sent to the Brevard County OCLC Interlibrary Loan Office. ILL staff will verify in OCLC that the materials were not returned and will contact the owning library to check the shelves for the material. If the material is not found on the shelf, the overdue notice will be mailed to the borrowing library.

7. If material is not returned within five weeks of the date due, the Brevard County OCLS Interlibrary Loan staff will prepare a bill according to the Brevard County Fines and Fees Resolution and send it to the borrowing library.

8. If the borrowing library does not respond by returning the material or paying the amount billed, the Brevard County Library System will no longer continue to loan to that library. The State Library of Florida will be notified when a library's privileges are suspended by the Brevard County Library System. A library's privileges will be restored upon receipt of the item or payment and the State Library of Florida will be notified.

B. Materials borrowed from other libraries:

1. In accordance with the FLIN Manual, "General Policies of FLIN", materials borrowed on Interlibrary Loan are the responsibility of the borrowing library until received again by the owning library. Fees or costs associated with damages or loss are the responsibility of the borrowing library regardless of whether or not the cost/fee can be recovered from patrons.

2. Patrons with overdues or delinquencies over $1.00 are not permitted to borrow materials for out-of-library use according to the Brevard County Fines and Fees Resolution. Material for patrons whose cards become delinquent after requesting the materials will be sent, via courier, to the library where the loan request was made, for in-library use only until the patron card is cleared.

3. When a patron request is received, it is the responsibility of the library taking the request to verify that the material is not in the Brevard County Library System's collection. If an item is not available due to an overdue that has exceeded 35 days, or a missing status, it is the responsibility of the requesting library to notify the owning library to declare the item lost. An item may be requested only after the Brevard County Library System copy has been declared lost. The Brevard County Interlibrary Loan Request Form must indicated that the Brevard County Library System's copy is no longer available.

4. Material shall be borrowed if it meets the criteria for loans as outlined in the FLIN Manual, General Policies of FLIN". All loan requests shall be handled as outlined in "Specific Loan Requests".

5. When the requested book is received by the Brevard County OCLC Interlibrary Loan Office, the book shall be banded to identify it as an Interlibrary Loan item. All materials shall be circulated in accordance with LS-3, Circulation and Loan Rules. The material shall be checked out to the patron for the loan period specified by the owning library. The material shall be sent to the requesting library for the patron to pick up.

6. Renewals are at the discretion of the owning library. Patrons must request renewals before the material is due.

VII. HANDCARRIES

The Brevard County Library System shall accept and use handcarries when the patron has located the material and is willing to travel to the owning library. Patron requests must include full bibliographic information. Handcarries will be used only when OCLC Interlibrary Loan procedures will not meet the patron's needs. In the event that a Reciprocal Borrowing Agreement is in place, patrons from those libraries will not be required to provide handcarry paperwork and will not be considered ILL patrons.

A. Patrons requesting handcarries through the Brevard County Library System must possess a valid Brevard County Library System card and have no outstanding obligations to the System (fines or overdue materials).

B. The borrowing library will complete the ALA/ILL form and keep the goldenrod copy. The remaining copies are given to the patron, who shall take the form to the owning library to pick up the material. The owning library shall note the call number and the due date on the pink and return it, by mail, to the borrowing library. The yellow copy shall be kept with the material. The owning library shall keep the white copy for its records.

C. The borrowing patron shall return material only to the Brevard County Library System library that authorized the loan, not the owning library.

VIII. ALA/ILL REQUESTS RECEIVED AT INDIVIDUAL LIBRARIES

A. The Brevard County Library System shall honor all ALA/ILL requests except from libraries whose privileges have been suspended.

B. Any ALA/ILL request forms received at individual libraries shall be forwarded by the receiving library with the material, if available, to the Brevard County Library System OCLC Interlibrary Loan Librarian for processing.

IX. RESERVATION OF AUTHORITY

The authority to issue or revise this procedure is reserved to the Library Services Department Director.

Catherine J. Schweinsberg
Library Services Director