Document Delivery Service Workflow
I. Articles.
A. Article requests will be received in ILLIAD and reviewed by the ILL
Librarian to see if they fall into one of the following three categories:
1. Articles which are available as PDF files in our databases or on
the internet will be returned to the requestor with location
provided so they can retrieve it themselves, since 9.4% of all
borrowing requests last year were found in these sources.
2. Articles which are not in our collection or not available as PDF
files in our databases or on the internet will be requested via
interlibrary loan.
3. Articles which are held in the library’s collections will be pulled
by Circulation staff, scanned by ILL staff and sent out to faculty
and staff like document delivery articles are currently processed
for our off-campus students. Since we currently have no idea
what kind of volume this service will generate, we are stating a
24-48 hour turnaround time for the service.
II. Books
A. Book requests will be received in ILLIAD and reviewed by the ILL
Librarian to see if they fall into one of the following two categories:
1. Book requests which are indicated as available in our library will
be transferred to the document delivery module, pulled from the
shelves for processing, and checked out at the Circulation Desk.
If a requested book is missing from the shelves, the request will
be converted to an interlibrary loan request.
2. Book requests that are not owned by our library will be
processed as interlibrary loan requests.
B. GIL Express books will be checked out by the Circulation Department to
the patron’s ID number and brought over to the ILL Department for
delivery.
C. Once books in our collection have been pulled and checked out by the
circulation department and ILL books have been received, books in
categories B and C will be ready for delivery.
D. Circulation will provide student assistant who will make deliveries twice
daily to departmental offices, two hours in morning and two hours in
afternoon. Since there is more frequent shuttle bus service to North
Campus in the morning, it might be best to schedule any runs to North
Campus in the morning. Phys-Ed building and Continuing Ed will also
need to be accessed by bus, but most other locales can be done on foot.
I have looked through various supply catalogs, but the most likely item
for transporting books appears to be the folding crate on wheels with a
pull-up handle from Staples, which costs about $20.00. (I have one at
home.) Since capacity is limited—probably 12-15 books will fit in it at a
time—student may have to make more than one trip back to library during
a shift. This is one of the reasons why a vehicle would be nice, especially
if this service gets popular.
E. When student assistant visits the departmental offices to deliver books,
which will be placed in faculty mailboxes by the offices’ staff, the
assistant will also pick up books left in a box we will provide to each
department to bring them back to the library. In cases where a department
needs material picked up, faculty or departmental secretaries can contact
the ILL Office to ask for a pick up. ILL and Circulation staff
will also be aware of overdue ILL and GIL Express material and can see
about contacting faculty in order to schedule returns. (However, most
users who get blocked usually see about getting their materials back ASAP
in order to get the block cleared.)
F. Since we currently have no idea what kind of volume this service will
generate, we are stating a 24-48 turnaround time for this service.
