Interlibrary
Loan Discussion Group Minutes
ARLIS/NA 2004
Conference
April 19, 2004
In attendance:
Louis Adrean, Cleveland Museum of Art, Hannah Bennett, Yale
University, Mary Louise Castaldi,
University of the Arts, Lydia Dufour, Frick Art Reference Library, Jon Evans,
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Robyn Fleming, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lilah
Mittelstaedt, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Emily Rafferty, Baltimore Museum of
Art, Linda Seckelson, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Amy Trendler, Art Institute of Chicago
I. Introductions
Ms. Mittelstaedt, ILL Discussion Group Moderator, welcomed the participants to the meeting. Introductions by each of the ten attendees followed. The majority represented museum libraries. No representative from the RLG was in attendance.
II. ILL Management Systems
Regarding RLG’s ILL Manager, Ms. Seckelson noted that it is important to filter our concerns to Mr. Dennis Massie, RLG Program Officer, who can then alert the Practitioners Council.
Ms. Mittelstaedt inquired about the use of customized letters within ILL Manager. At present, no attendees were using this feature.
Ms. Bennett noted that Yale University is not presently functional with ILL Manager. When they do go live, they will be an ILLiad Library.
Following a question from Ms. Mittelstaedt, it was determined that no one is using OCLC as a backup except for the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
A discussion regarding overseas sources followed. Mr. Evans mentioned the European Register of Microform Masters (EROMM) (http://www.eromm.org/) as a source for European microforms. While selected records are included in RLIN, requests must be submitted using an IFLA request form.
Ms. Dufour noted that The Frick is receiving an increasing number of requests for copies of its artist files. It should be noted that The Frick’s artist files are more extensive than most files, often containing important photographic material and significant bibliographic information. This increase may ultimately result in limits for interlibrary loan service associated with these files.
Ms. Seckelson asked whether anyone is still using Ariel, the document scanning mechanism. Several attendees stated that they were, while others noted that they were sending documents as PDF’s.
Several attendees remarked that the Bibliotheque Nationale is not as collegial as they would like, noting that they can be unresponsive and requests take a significant period to fill.
Others noted that the Victoria &Albert, while legally barred from loaning material, is a reliable source for copies.
The subject of non-protocol requests was raised, to which several attendees responded that they create dummy records. To do so, you must select “ALA Form” instead of “ISO” within ILL Manager to create a non-protocol request. Ms. Fleming and Ms. Bennett offered to field questions about processing these types of request, should attendees need assistance.
In response to Ms. Mittelstaedt’s inquiry about IFLA vouchers, Ms. Fleming stated that they can be obtained by visiting the IFLA website (http://www.ifla.org/). Once there, an email request must be submitted for the amount required. A wire transfer is required to purchase the vouchers. They are available in $10 (full voucher) and $5 (half voucher) forms with a $100 minimum purchase. When making a request, the voucher must be sent with the request to the lender.
Ms. Seckelson mentioned that the Karlsruher Virtuelle Katalog (KVK) (http://www.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/hylib/en/kvk.html) has strong holdings in German and Austrian publications.
Mr. Adrean also noted that the Bibliotheque Hertziana (http://www.biblhertz.it/cgi-bin/gucha_en.pl) in Rome is a particularly good source for Italian bibliographic information.
Ms. Seckelson noted that the Metropolitan will finish the retrospective conversion of its records from the printed Metropolitan catalogs in June of this year. In light of this, she asked whether attendees were now discarding bound catalogs such as these as they have been superceded and consume lots of valuable space. There was a mixed response among attendees. However, it was clear that most have had to address the issue and many have sent large print runs off-site. (As an aside, Ms. Seckelson indicated that the Watson Library is in need of the 5th supplement (1995) to the Metropolitan’s printed catalog. Should anyone be willing to part with a copy, please contact her.)
IV. Newspapers and Dissertations
Ms. Mittelstaedt noted that the Center for Research Libraries (CLR) (http://wwwcrl.uchicago.edu/) in Chicago has a large corpus of foreign dissertations. However, membership is prohibitively expensive, requiring at least a minimum deposit account of $500 to borrow materials with each request costing $100. Some suggested that we talk to Mr. Massie about encouraging them to become members of SHARES.
Ms. Mittelstaedt asked whether anyone was currently using DIALOG to access sources such as Dissertation Abstracts, to which the response was negative. However, both Mr. Adrean and Ms. Seckelson indicated that they access this database via First Search.
A discussion about the various forms of IDC’s (www.idcpublishers.info/lugt) Art Sales Catalogues followed. Mr. Adrean stated that the Cleveland Museum of Art recently acquired the four part fiche set, priced at roughly $20-23,000 per segment. Others noted that an annual subscription to the online version costs roughly $3,000 per year.
V. Statistics
The issue of statistics was raised in relation to unfilled requests. Ms. Mittelstaedt asked whether any institutions were keeping these in addition to those that are filled. Ms. Castaldi at the University of the Arts stated that she does. All others noted that they were not.
VI. OCLC Updates
Ms. Mittelstaedt asked Ms.
Castaldi about the upcoming changes in OCLC
ILL, which entail their retiring the Passport software and implementing First Search ILL starting June
2004. It was noted that special First Search ILL only accounts will be
available for those libraries not subscribing to First Search. Training
begins April 2004 in Philadelphia.
VII. Anything Else
In closing, it was stated that it would be important for the group to hear what transpires at the Practitioners Council at the next ALA conference.
Ms. Mittelstaedt adjourned the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Jon Evans
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
May 19, 2004