How to reduce — if not eliminate(!) — invoices and checks for interlibrary loan
Hospital libraries typically reduce invoicing and check-writing for interlibrary loan in two ways: 1) by joining other libraries in reciprocal agreements to provide each other with free loans, and 2) by joining EFTS, the Electronic Funds Transfer System provided through the University of Connecticut. And the most savvy hospital libraries do both!
FreeShare and other reciprocal groups
Libraries that engage in reciprocal agreements are, in essence, “discounting” the cost of ILL to each other. Reciprocal agreements may be made among individual libraries or through DOCLINE library groups. The largest of the reciprocal DOCLINE library groups is FreeShare, which currently includes over 1,300 libraries in the US and Canada that agree not to charge each other for DOCLINE requests. A member of FreeShare can place the FreeShare library group in a single cell in its routing table, thus taking potential advantage of all the libraries in the group. You can join FreeShare (or leave it) by simply contacting Marco or Julie in the regional network office. We can add you immediately as long as you are an active DOCLINE lender. From that point on, your DOCLINE requests will indicate your membership in the FreeShare library group. Here are some links for further information:
- FreeShare: Free Reciprocal Interlibrary Loan Group
- Best Practices for Updating Your Routing Table after DOCLINE 2.7, including a change for FreeShare
EFTS: Electronic Funds Transfer System — the DOCLINE billing component
The University of Connecticut manages EFTS, which is a system for managing DOCLINE bills. Libraries join EFTS in order to reduce invoicing and check writing for resource libraries, NLM, and other libraries that are EFTS members. EFTS members receive detailed monthly statements of EFTS activity; you need to ensure that your account has enough money in it to cover these requests. Complete information about EFTS, including how to sign up, is available on the EFTS web site. Here are some links for more information about EFTS:
- For the number of PSR libraries who are EFTS members, go to http://nnlm.gov/psr/rsdd/efts_parts.html
- An excellent article to help you make the case to your hospital administration is EFTS: How to get approval from the powers that be, by Maryann Zaremska, Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, San Francisco, CA
Are your DOCLINE holdings correct?
To make sure that requests route to your library correctly, keep your journal holdings in DOCLINE up-to-date. First, get a list of your DOCLINE journal holdings. You can do this by logging on to DOCLINE, clicking on the Serials Holdings tab, clicking on Reports, then clicking on Holdings by Library. You can specify if you want to print or download the holdings report, and you can specify which report fields you want to include. Then click on Submit Report at the bottom of the page. The report might take a few hours to run, so go back to DOCLINE later, navigate as before, and then click on Reports Ready.
Please feel free to contact us! Let us know if you have questions about your routing table. We can also help you with training for DOCLINE serials holdings using Adobe Connect, a web conferencing system.
