Document Delivery Plan
Goal
To ensure all health professionals throughout the Greater Midwest Region timely access to information from the nation's health
sciences libraries.
Objective:
- Develop efficient and cost effective processes for requesting, referring, and delivery of items.
- Develop and coordinate gathering and reporting of serials holding data.
- Provide standardized policies and procedures to assure appropriate regional consistency within the Network.
The Network
Any library, information center, institution, or organization in the Greater Midwest Region with its own collection of health sciences materials from which, in part, it provides information services to health professionals, can become a network participant. As participating institutions, libraries accept the goals and objectives of the NN/LM Greater Midwest Region Document Delivery Plan.
Network institutions are divided into four categories based on ability and willingness to assume responsibility for interlibrary lending of materials.
Primary Access Libraries (PAL)
This category includes hospital libraries, academic health science libraries, and other network participants, which do not serve as Resource Libraries. PALS should contribute to and maintain holdings data in SERHOLD, and participate in DOCLINE. These libraries are encouraged to develop adequate resources to respond to their users' needs and to cooperate with other local libraries to share resources among themselves before forwarding non-available requests to Resource Libraries.
Resource Libraries (RL)
In this category are libraries with sufficient collections and current acquisitions, selected by the RML, to provide interlibrary lending service including referrals, in accordance with network policies and procedures, primarily to a specific sub-regional area or a larger geographic area as a specialized resource. Resource libraries must contribute and maintain holdings data in SERHOLD, participate in DOCLINE, and participate in other regional programs.
Regional Medical Library (RML)
As the Regional Medical Library, The University of Illinois at Chicago Library of the Health Sciences (UIC LHS) is responsible for developing and implementing a regional interlibrary loan plan. The selection of Resource Libraries, consistent with the national network policy; coordinating the collection and maintenance of regional locator data; and managing the reproduction and distribution of a regional locator tool. The RML also assists in the interpretation of data and the fostering of cooperation in activities relating to collection development and collection maintenance; coordination of DOCLINE activities within its region; interfacing with other interlibrary loan networks; and participating in exploring improved methods of interlibrary lending. The RML serves as the final resource for interlibrary loans within the Region.
National Library of Medicine
NLM's responsibilities include national coordination and interface with other national interlibrary loan networks, provision of interlibrary loan services (for print or non-print materials) to augment regional resources; the collection and distribution of management data to monitor network performance; and the continued development and support of DOCLINE.
Interlibrary Loan Service Health professionals are expected to access the network through use of the nearest Network library with which they are affiliated. Unaffiliated health professionals will be referred to a health sciences library by the RML, or be serviced by the UIC LHS itself.
Originating Library
Filled loans or notices of non-fulfillment are to be sent directly to the originating library. This library will ensure that the user receives the loan or is notified of the disposition of the request.
Charges
There is a national maximum charge of $11.00 that must be adhered to by RMLs and RLs. This charge is established by NLM using data supplied by RMLs and Resource Libraries based on direct costs for filled requests and the cost of living index. The established charge should enable the network libraries to recover direct costs incurred and provide the service at a minimum cost to the user.
Fulfillment Standards
The measure of fulfillment (fill rate) is calculated by dividing the number of received requests into the number of filled requests. An acceptable minimum level of performance for an RML or Resource Library shall be a 75% fill rate.
Throughput Standard
Network standards require that processing 85% of filled loans be completed within three calendar days and that 85% of the non-available requests be processed within seven calendar days.
Notification of non-Availability
The RML, Resource Library or Primary Access Library will indicate the reason for not filling a request by including this information as specifically as possible (e.g., issue not owned, missing, etc.). This nformation can be found in the Status/Cancel area of DOCLINE. It will reside in the "Remarks" portion of the interlibrary loan request form for non-DOCLINE requests.
