DOCLINE Guideline for Delivery Methods
by Maria Collins, Collection Access Section, NLM - collinm@mail.nlm.nih.gov
The guideline for delivery method is that the lender should send via the borrower’s preferred delivery method indicated in the Ship to: area of the receipt. If that method is unavailable to the lender, the lender may send by any of the listed alternate delivery methods shown in the body of the receipt. If a technical problem temporarily prevents delivery by all of the requested methods, the lender should contact the borrower to ask permission to send via a method not listed, or reject the request. If the borrower does not respond or says no, the request should be updated as Not Filled for reason of Other. The lender’s institution record should be updated to reflect their current delivery abilities.
Libraries may wish to take this opportunity to review their borrow preferences to ensure they reflect their actual delivery method requirements. NLM strongly recommends selecting your preferred delivery method as your Network Delivery Method, and selecting acceptable alternate delivery methods.
The DOCLINE will match your delivery method choices with lenders providing those delivery methods and that also report owning the title and requested volume OR year. Using the comments field to indicate delivery preference may result in inaccurate routing, unnecessary work by lenders, and delays in filling the request.
To update your borrow preferences and lending delivery methods, go to Institutions, Update, then go to the DOCLINE Options page.
For more information on how routing works, see the FAQ at:
