Connaway, L. S. (2019). "I like interlibrary loans a lot. I don’t that three- or four-day turnaround." Academic librarian and user expectations for accessing resources and perceptions of ILL. Presented at the University of Melbourne, October 23, 2019, Melbourne, Australia.  

1. Melbourne Australia | | 23 October 2019
“I like interlibrary loans a lot. I don’t like that three- or four- days
turnaround.”
Academic Librarian and User Expectations for Accessing Resources and
Perceptions of ILL
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D.
Director of Library Trends and User Research, OCLC

2. Rationale
• Purpose of the research: Influence and guide strategic
direction and product development of OCLC delivery
services.
• Methodology: The project will entail focus group
interviews with librarians and semi-structured
interviews with faculty members and
graduate/postgraduate students at select OCLC
Research Library Partnership institutions
Image:https://www.flickr.com/photos/satanoid/5851823198/by satanoid/CC BY 2.0

3. Focus Group Research Questions
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rexness/4513981469/ by Rexness/CC BY-SA 2.0
• RQ1: How do resource sharing/ILL librarians currently spend their
time?
• RQ2: How would they like to spend their time?
• RQ3: What aspects of lending and fulfilment do they believe could be
unmediated?
• RQ4: Where are the inefficiencies in their workflow and what would
help them overcome these and streamline their processes?
• RQ5: What are their expectations, if any, for standardized, shared ILL
and resource sharing policies?

4. Semi-Structured Interview Research Questions
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/skellner/4203154536/ by Stefan Kellner/CC BY-NC 2.0
• RQ1: How do graduate/postgraduate students and faculty get access
to resources?
• RQ2: How do they prefer to get access to resources?
• RQ3: Under what circumstances and for what purposes do they
choose ways of accessing resources from the library, e.g., borrowing,
downloading/accessing online., ILL or requests-to-purchase?
• RQ4: Under what circumstances and for what purposes do they
choose ways of accessing resources beyond the library, e.g.,
purchasing from Alibris; purchasing from Amazon, Barnes & Noble,
etc.; borrowing from a friend or a colleague?

5. FOCUS GROUP INTERVIEWS

6. General Information
ACRL
Six participants (n=6)
Cleveland, Ohio
April 2019
ALIA
Nine participants (n=9)
Sydney, Australia
February 2019
Colorado ILL
Fifteen participants (n=15)
Westminster, Colorado
April 2019
Resource Sharing Conference
Ten participants (n=10)
Jacksonville, Florida
March 2019
Image:https://www.flickr.com/photos/thetejon/4051985062/ by Jon/(CC BY-SA 2.0)

7. Key Librarian Issues
Standardization
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/56001877@N04/8126838599/by runmonty/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
FundingRequest Volume

8. Standardization
• High number of consortia
• Variation between library systems
• Cross consortia sharing
• Makes logistics difficult to manage
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/strausser/10926019275/ by free range jace/CC BY-NC 2.0

9. Request Volume
• High number of requests
• Many last minute or short notice requests
• Often held responsible for system
problems and user error
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/loloieg/3459011184/ by Loloieg/CC BY-ND 2.0

10. Funding
• Keeping ILL within budget
• Increasing number of ILL holdings
• Cost of licensing
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/hsin-yen/35173724402/by Hsin-Yen Lin/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

11. SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

12. Gender
Female: 18
Male:11
Age Ranges
19-25: 5
25-34: 5
35-44: 9
45-54: 6
55-64: 4
Academic Level
Faculty: 15
Graduate/Postgraduate
students: 14
Countries
Australia: 21
USA: 8
Institutions
University of Adelaide: 9
Monash University: 4
Australian National University: 2
University of Melbourne: 6
Montana State University: 5
Swarthmore College: 3
N = 29
Semi-Structured Interview Demographics
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thaths/4314445838/ by thaths/(CC BY-NC 2.0)

13. Key User Considerations
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/duncan/15262071481/by Duncan c/CC BY-NC 2.0
Speed Cost Format
Accessibility
Communication

14. Speed
• Heavy focus on fast fulfilment
• Speed overshadows quality
• Slow items are considered unavailable/not worth the time
• ILL perceived as a “slower option”
• Digital access regarded as quickest
• “High speed” mentioned in 21 out of 29 total interviews
Image:https://www.flickr.com/photos/fransdewit/4052612802/by Frans de Wit/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

15. "So I like interlibrary loans a lot. I think it's very
useful. I do want them to be quick. I don't like
that three or four days turnaround. I guess that’s
because I don't want to have to think about, have
I received it? I did or not?"
-Australia, Graduate/Postgraduate Student,
Professions and Applied Sciences, 45-54, Female
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/oprior/64409980/by Owen Prior/CC BY-SA 2.0

16. “I think there has been an occasion where I've
been after a paper or something and just to get
the inter-library loan, was going to take too long.
Like the project needed to be finished very
quickly and it wouldn't come in in time, so I
haven’t issued it any further…”
-Australia, Faculty, Social Sciences, 35-44, Male
Image:https://www.flickr.com/photos/jhlau/15969832976/ by a.canvas.of.light/CC BY 2.0

17. Cost
• Little mention of specific price points
• Free vs paid rather than cheap vs expensive
• Users wish items were free even when institutions
cover the cost
• Users will ignore paid options if free ones are
available
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/davem/14803922/ by Dave & Lorelle/CC BY-NC 2.0

18. “If something costs a ton of money or if I have to
rent it or if I have to request a purchase, I'm just
not going to do that, cause there's so much free
research out there that it's like, why would I make
anybody do that?”
-US, Graduate/Postgraduate Student, Social
Sciences, 19-25, Female
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/101643643@N08/15749180169/ by WANG-HSIN PEI/CC BY 2.0

19. Format
• Speed and cost important to users
• Dependent on context
• Some users have strong preference for one format
Image:https://www.flickr.com/photos/laurie_brooker/354514974/by Laurie Brooker/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

20. Digital
• Journals, eBooks and other academic materials
• Flexibility of access and use
• Users access digital materials from multiple sources
• Google Scholar
• Databases
• Amazon
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/130540439@N05/16544443591/by LT Photography/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

21. "I often buy the eBook version for any books
that relate to my work because they're not
really a sit at home in bed and enjoy the feel
and the you know. They're just the ones that
you can just hold on your iPad or whatever it
is and just flick through it when you need it."
Australia, Faculty, Science Communication, 55-64, Female
Image:https://www.flickr.com/photos/kool_skatkat/795393193/by kool_skatkat/(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

22. Physical
• Almost always prefer physical books
• For both personal and professional use
• For immersion and accessibility
• Frequent reference to tactility and “feel”
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ncole458/5251071720/ by Nicholas Cole/CC BY 2.0

23. "If it's an eBook, forget it. I don't even wanna open
an eBook. I hate eBooks. There's one eBook that I
might have to slog through to try to figure out
something ... this is kind of an important book, but
I can't print it, I can't download it, I can't ... I am a
person that often loves books, so I can write in
them, circle them."
Australia, Faculty, Social Sciences, 45-54, Female
Image:https://www.flickr.com/photos/thetejon/4182681980/by Jon/(CC BY-SA 2.0)

24. ILL and Communication Clarity
• Users tend to avoid ILL
• Concerns about clarity of communication
between library and user
• Prefer correspondence via email or automated
messages
• Puts user’s mind at ease for time sensitive
materials
• Users don’t want unnecessary updates, but want
to be informed of status of requests
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/huangce/8390725539/ by TripNotice.com/CC BY 2.0

25. “Yeah, 'cause if I keep getting emails of, "Hey, it's still
pending," there's nothing that the library's doing
wrong. It's just I'm going to get frustrated because it
seems like nothing's happening, but if they don't
remind me that nothing's happening, then I forget
about it for a while and then I get a cool email that
says,"Oh, by the way, we've been working behind the
scenes and here it is."
-US, Graduate/Postgraduate Student, Social
Sciences, 19-25, Female
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rogermeyer/5244084417/ by Rodger Meyer/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

26. “ But all communication is valid, and all communication
is really appreciated because I know, we're all incredibly
busy, and those people that are, kind of, getting stuff for
you, they will have hundreds of other people to look after,
too, so I, you know, and I've worked in retail so I know
that that little bit of communication can go a long way.”
-Australia, Faculty, 55-64, Male
Image:https://www.flickr.com/photos/fernando/3992060782/by Fernando de Sousa/CC BY-SA 2.0

27. Open Access
• Users want open access for themselves and for the
public
• Users are aware of some of the difficulties involved
in making more materials openly available
• Often mentioned positively and as a desired future
development
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/147621582@N02/35993391071/by Staffan Andersson/CC0 1.0

28. “ I'm really thrilled when I find an electronic version of a
book that I have total access to and can download in its
entirety, that there's not some arbitrary 89-page limit that
you can download today or print today, because of
outdated notions of access. In my perfect world, every
digital book would be open for people with institutional
logins to download in full.”
-Australia, Graduate/Postgraduate Student, 26-34, Male
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/karlnorling/14668687253/by karlnorling/CC BY 2.0

29. Top Features Desired by Users
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/duncan/39921909493/by Duncan c/CC BY-NC 2.0

30. Faculty and Graduate/Postgraduate Student Responses
• Graduate/postgraduate students appear to be more sensitive to
speed than faculty
• Graduate/postgraduate students have greater preference for PDFs
than faculty
• Open content mentioned more by Australians than Americans
• Faculty more interested in open content than
graduate/postgraduate students
• Americans want more clarity in communication
• No difference in faculty and graduate/postgraduate student need
for clarity in communication
• Most users search Google to find information and resources

31. Summary of Findings
Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/satanoid/5851908184/by satanoid/(CC BY 2.0)
Semi-Structured Interviews
• Ease of access is a key factor for user
searches
• Users were familiar with Interlibrary
Loan, but overall opinion was mixed
• Both search engines and specialized
databases were utilized by
interviewees for searches
• Library instruction has a positive
effect on user experience
Focus Group Interviews
• Working with several isolated systems
is point of frustration for librarians
• Librarians feel responsible for making
fulfillment seamless
• Speed is important for users and
librarians

32. Recommendations Based on User Interviews
Image:https://www.flickr.com/photos/majiksbox/24923950387/by Dave – resting/CC BY-SA 2.0
• Clarity of communication (Tracking)
• Convenience/Ease of use
• Consolidation/One stop shopping
• Citation tools
• Speed/Timeliness

33. HOW CAN WE PARTICIPATE IN OCLC
RESEARCH STUDIES?

34. OCLC Research Library Partnership
• Transnational network of research libraries (130+)
• Supported by partnership dues and co-investment from
OCLC
• The RLP supports libraries as they evolve to meet 21st
century challenges, providing the connections, knowledge,
and resources to plan with confidence in a complex,
rapidly-changing ecosystem

35. People are connections
to knowledge
Peer to peer
collaborative learning
Strategic thinking to
practical application
Influence service
design and future
research
Shared
understanding for
faster innovation
RLP leverages partner
knowledge to fuel
innovation

36. OCLC Research Library Partnership
Activities are led by an energetic team who
work with member institutions to develop an array of
programming for both senior library leaders and
staff, virtually and in person.

37. Research support
Unique and distinctive
collections
Resource sharing /
Collective collections
Next generation
metadata
Learning Together
OCLC RLP Activities

38. “The provision of research support services is an area of significant
investment for our member libraries. Our research and programming
offers resources for libraries to learn how other institutions are responding
and to discuss local challenges with other libraries worldwide.”
Rebecca Bryant
bryantr@oclc.org
Research support

39. “[the RDM working group]. . . provided us with not only an advanced introduction to the
specific issues regarding the best practices for implementing RDM services, but it has
also helped in creating an environment of shared resources between the attendees for all of
our RDM interests/needs…. these interest group discussions have been a critical resource
in formulating our future RDM strategy.”
Adrian Gomez, Science Informationist, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
[read more, RDM: A challenge too big to tackle alone]
Critical resource in formulating our future RDM strategy

40. “We work in special and distinctive collections because they are an important site
of scholarly knowledge creation, made possible by libraries’ significant investment
in the stewardship of these collections. The unique nature of material in special
collections can make scaling a challenge, so we work to identify areas of common
need and patterns of innovation to help libraries scale learning and expertise with
these collections.”
Chela Scott Weber
weberc@oclc.org
Unique and distinctive collections

41. Using the Agenda in strategic planning
“Any time you have a formal report put
out by a trustworthy organization, it
becomes immediately a tool that
administrators can use to help frame
local needs, and that's exactly what
I've used this report for.”
Empower your strategy through valuable library research
https://www.oclc.org/en/member-stories/northeastern.htmlEvan Simpson
Associate Dean,
Research and Learning Services, Northeastern University

42. “A commitment to metadata is part of OCLC’s DNA. The OCLC RLP Metadata
Managers Focus Group explores strategies on how metadata can work harder
and smarter. Over the last year, the focus group held fourteen in-depth
conversations on topics ranging from measuring the value of cataloging to
creating metadata for equity, diversity, and inclusion, to serving needs of audio-
visual collections.”
Karen Smith-Yoshimura
smithyok@oclc.org
Next generation metadata

43. “I get a chance to meet with others excited by metadata
challenges and really dive deep into the issues that are at the
forefront of our daily working lives.”
Stephen Hearn, Metadata Strategist, University of Minnesota
read more, Too much metadata?
Meet with others excited by metadata

44. “As institutions evolve toward a notion of “collective collections,” resource
sharing partnerships that expand access to collections are of primary importance. The
SHARES resource sharing consortium of the RLP is a generous network of trusted
partners that provides access to libraries’ strong, rich, diverse, and unique collections.
SHARES also supports active collaboration to innovate and support best practices for
resource sharing. By joining the Research Library Partnership, institutions have the
opportunity to join the SHARES resource sharing consortium.”
Dennis Massie
massied@oclc.org
Resource sharing

45. “We definitely go the extra mile for SHARES partners and really appreciate when
that is reciprocated, which is most of the time. We pursue loans of unusual items
with collection managers, loan larger quantities of material per transaction,
arrange for expedited and/or other kinds of special shipping, give longer loan
periods/renewals (& more renewals), etc. It's this kind of value-added service that
can really make a difference on those challenging requests that seem to crop up
more and more often these days.”
Margaret Ellingson
Head of Interlibrary Loan, Emory University
We go the extra mile

46. Learning together
• In person events
• Convening around key questions
• Surveys: taking the pulse
• Prototyping efforts
• Works in Progress Webinars (hosted 20 last year)

47. Professional development
Stay up to date
Engage around emerging issues
Learn alongside colleagues
Virtual engagement is affordable
“…being able to engage with colleagues at other universities from my
desk has been an absolute lifeline for me. Thank you!”
Dr. Cathy Pink, Senior Data Librarian, University of Bath

48. Photo by Almos Bechtold on Unsplash

49. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank Nick Spence for his assistance in
preparing this presentation.

50. Questions &
Discussion
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, PhD
Director of Library Trends and User Research OCLC
connawal@oclc.org
@LynnConnaway