Focusing on the results of a recent On Demand user survey aimed at understanding how our customers discover and access scholarly knowledge and what is important to them. This presentation looks at the value of an On Demand service in the context of the changing landscape of scholarly publishing and customer expectations.

1. Creating a customer focussed vision
for On Demand at Northumbria
University Library
Amanda Foster (Content Delivery & Copyright Librarian)
Lee Blyth (Discovery and Access Librarian)

2.  Northumbria University background
 University Library & On Demand team
 Our focus on customers
 Digital First strategy
 On Demand user survey results
 Current and future landscapes
 Creating a vision
 Customer feedback
Outline

3.  30,000 students from 136 countries
 3,000 staff
 Four faculties across two campuses
 560 employer-sponsored courses
 60 programmes accredited by professional bodies
Northumbria University

4.  Part of Student & Library Services directorate
at Northumbria
 Newcastle and Amsterdam & London
 24/7 and Customer Service Excellence (CSE)
 Consistently high satisfaction e.g. 92% NSS
 Two divisions - Library Collection & Digital
Services / Library Learning & Research
Services
 Superconverged frontline – ‘Ask4Help’
University Library

5.  Customer Service Excellence since 2010
 Service design starts with customers, not with supply or technology
 Students and Faculty are customers*
 Customer journey, moments of truth and point of need
 Therefore On Demand rather than ILL*
Strategic Customer Focus

6. Key principle and strategic
framework for University
Library since 2013
Digital is firstly about people,
secondly about content.
Technology enables
Digital First

7.  Key principle for University Library - Free at the point of need
 Digital first collections but evidence based – print is still important*
 Collaborative management will influence sharing e.g. UKRR for
monographs?
 Libraries continue to be trusted as a knowledge platform
 Libraries integrate with and enable wider platforms
 Continued shift to open access e.g. Plan S – future of big deals?
 Continued evolution of scholarly communication – changing role of
the library e.g. as a publisher
Collections and scholarly communication

8. Alternative access?
Advice on gaining alternative access to Elsevier articles.
University of California - https://osc.universityofcalifornia.edu/open-access-at-uc/publisher-negotiations/alternative-access-to-articles/
Bibsam Consortium - https://openaccess.blogg.kb.se/bibsamkonsortiet/alternative-routes-to-scholarly-articles-and-research-outputs/

9.  Small dedicated On Demand team.
 8,000+ requests a year.
 Supply items from our collection to other libraries - contribute to
WorldCat, SUNCAT, COPAC and NBK.
 On Demand workflows must be on par with other tools.
 Alma, Primo, Talis Aspire, Springshare (LibGuides, LibCal,
LibAnswers)
Interlending at Northumbria

10.  Review of processes for obtaining global resources.
 WorldShare subscription
 WorldCat contributor
 Article Exchange
WorldShare

11. 2,000+ home delivery requests
450+ items sourced from outside UK
470+ fulfilled via ebook short term loan
2,000+ requests satisfied by BL API
600+ requests satisfied via ArtEmail
Background to the service

13. Customer journey for On Demand access
Understanding how regular customers discover and access
scholarly knowledge
How they perceive and understand the On Demand service
269 customers
83 responses (31% response rate) within 7 days
Customer Survey, March 2019

14. Overall, how satisfied are you with the current
Inter Library Loan service?

15. What proportion of the resources you read are
provided by the University Library?

16. If you needed to access a book, ebook or journal
article, where would you go to get access?
* The people who
answered this
question were
allowed to select
any combination of
the six available
options. The
percentages relate
to the number of
people who
included that
option among their
choices.
Infographic created using Infogram.

17. If you couldn’t access this content, what steps
would you take to gain access?

18. How long would you wait to have access to scholarly
content which is outside of the Library collection?
April 2019

19. What delivery choices would be useful to you when requesting
on demand access via an Inter Library Loan?
* The people who
answered this
question were
allowed to select
any combination of
the six available
options. The
percentages relate
to the number of
people who
included that
option among their
choices.
Infographic created using Infogram.

20. Of the delivery choices, which would be of
most benefit to you?

21. How useful would it be to have content recommended to you
based on previous Inter Library Loan requests?

22.  Thinking about the other types of
content platforms you may use
(Netflix, Amazon, Spotify etc.)
What are the features of these
services that would work well in
this context?
Are there any other features you would
like us to provide?
NEED AN
IMAAAAAGE!!!

23.  Customer experience:
 I'd like to see my inter library loan history.
 Automated response that the inter library loan has been made.
 Make lecture notes discoverable/accessible via search tool.
 Format and delivery:
 Perhaps if there was a way to provide an estimated delivery time.
 Some e-textbooks only let you open them in a browser whereas a secured PDF
would be preferred.
 Content could be downloaded on Kindle Unlimited. Even so, a hard copy is
preferable.
 A Northumbria Library app with ebook access would be great.
 It would be useful to be able to 'borrow' audio-visual resources (or films, TV shows,
documentaries, etc.) for teaching purposes.
 Netflix and Amazon for undergrads… the library's DVD selection isn't useful
because it's reference only.

24. Our vision for On Demand in
discovery & access
This vision is conceptual based on survey feedback and disruptions in the current environment.

25. Global knowledge On Demand
Print & digital
On demand availability
Any time or place – mobile is a must

26.  Two outcomes of search:
 ‘Here it is now’
 ‘Looks like we don’t have that, we can get it for you tomorrow’
 Choice of:
 Delivery format (OA / print / e)
 Delivery timescale (instant / tomorrow / 1 week)
 Delivery location (digital / library / home / office)
 Highlight recommendations and related content
 On Demand workflows must be on par with other tools:
 Articles published the day before?
 Is current ingesting / indexing able to cope?
Choices, not just requests

28. Share tracking information
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire) View this item in Library Search
George R. R. Martin
Provided by Kings Landing University Library
Processing
request
Item sent Item
in transit
Delivered to
your Library
Preparing
your loan
Ready to
collect from
your Library
Estimated availability for collection: Friday 5th April 10am
You will receive a notification when your item is ready to collect and you may keep your loan for up to four weeks.

29.  Building on current good practice.
 Meeting the 5 day challenge.
 Parts of the network already in place e.g. WorldCat & NBK.
 Other enablers:
 Technology
 Data
 Collaboration (including agreed standards)
 If the computer can do it, let the computer do it.
Resource sharing network

30. The network behind the scenes
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
Customer Places request Available to collect
Requesting Library
Processes request
Send request to
partner
Received by mail room
Delivered to library
Processed by staff
Placed on hold shelf
Lending Library
Receives request
Process request
Pickup from shelves
Package item
Internal post collect
Sent to external post
Item in transit Item in transit

31. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
Customer Places request Available to collect
Requesting Library
Processes request
Send request to
partner
Received by mail room
Delivered to library
Processed by staff
Placed on hold shelf
Lending Library
Receives request
Process request
Pickup from shelves
Package item
Internal post collect
Sent to external post
Item in transit Item in transit
The network behind the scenes
Let the computer do it

32. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
Customer Places request Available to collect
Requesting Library
Processes request
Send request to
partner
Received by mail room
Delivered to library
Processed by staff
Placed on hold shelf
Lending Library
Receives request
Process request
Pickup from shelves
Package item
Internal post collect
Sent to external post
Item in transit Item in transit
The network behind the scenes
Logistics network

33. Search the Library Collection
Include everything available On Demand

34.  This is a superb service. I often require material that is now out of print or published
outside of the UK and it is rare that I haven't had my request satisfied.
 Brilliant, quick service
 I find this service extremely helpful, efficient and very effective in helping me with my
research. Thank you.
 I think this service is absolute gold dust
 Excellent service, have not failed to obtain items for me
 I think this is an excellent service and one of the best in the country - thank you.
 It is so easy to use and really convenient to have articles accessible from a link in an
email, makes my job easier!
 Inter library loan is a fantastic service and I rely on it for my research and teaching.
 Please don’t end access to hardcopies for books.
Feedback from the survey…

35.  This is an excellent service which functions very efficiently. It's incredible how quickly you guys are
able to source materials sometimes
 On behalf of my colleagues, many thanks once again for supporting our research and teaching --
we appreciate you!
 I really do appreciate the service. As an academic who works on many Spanish sources - the ILL
service has been unfailingly efficient over the years in swiftly supplying me with what I need for
research. It is a great service.
 Generally, it's just brilliant. I'm working in a bit of a niche, doing a PhD on film audience studies, so I
quite often bump into books that aren't available in the library, understandably. And I quite like
rummaging through books in other disciplines for inspiration. The inter library loan service has been
ridiculously handy in that respect.
 As a PhD student, studying a contemporary subject, it means I seek to access very recently
published journals and books, which the library take time to get into stock so they're often not
available. So inter library loans is vital to get access to these publications cost effectively.
 Very happy with the service, staff are well informed and very helpful.
 It is really, really great!
Feedback from the survey… cont.

36. Amanda Foster
Content Delivery & Copyright Librarian
amanda.foster@northumbria.ac.uk
Lee Blyth
Discovery and Access Librarian
lee.blyth@northumbria.ac.uk
Thanks for listening...
any questions?