This document discusses how interlibrary loan (ILL) departments in academic libraries have been impacted by ebooks and shrinking collections. It notes that libraries have less ability to lend ebooks from their collections. The Occam's Reader platform enables some ebook lending between libraries. Open access materials have increased ILL requests as patrons seek materials libraries may not own. The UC Santa Cruz library increased ILL usage through outreach and marketing, including at orientations and library events. Overall libraries need more ebook lending options and collaboration to meet patrons' information needs in the digital environment.

1. INTERLIBRARY LOAN IN THE
EVER-CHANGING ACADEMIC
LIBRARY
BOBCATSSS 2017
Tampere, Finland
January 25-27, 2017
Jesus Espinoza

2. Topics
• Introduction
• eBooks and ILL
• Occam’s Reader
• Scholarly Piracy
• Open Access
• Marketing and Outreach of ILL
• Conclusions and Recommendations

3. Introduction
• What impact have ebooks, the increasing availability of
electronic material, and shrinking library collections had
on interlibrary loan departments in academic libraries?

4. Data taken from ACRLMetrics

5. Data taken from ACRLMetrics

6. eBooks and ILL
• Libraries have less latitude to lend from their collections,
even as methods of transmitting documents physically
and electronically are constantly improving. This
restricting trend is dangerous because patrons are able to
discover that materials exist outside of the library like
never before and then learn that they cannot access the
information — further bolstering the popular misbelief that
libraries cannot meet the information needs of today’s
patrons (Gee 24).

7. Occams’ Reader
• Occam’s Reader is a platform developed to enable the
interlibrary lending of eBooks.
• Developed at Texas Tech University and the University
of Hawai'i at Manoa in collaboration with the Greater
Western Library Alliance .
• Currently available at 21 universities; over 500
transactions in 2014 alone.
• Cons: inability to print or download books, publisher
concerns, unclear if there are any patron privacy issues.

8. Scholarly Piracy
• In a time where so much content is available freely and
instantly online are potential patrons really going to spend
the time to look for that content via their library or by
submitting an ILL request? Sci-Hub and #icanhazPDF are
to the scholarly community what Napster and other p2p
sharing were to the music industry.

9. Scholarly Piracy
Solutions?
• Libraries should leverage their combined collections
with other libraries
• Reciprocal lending agreements and redundancy
reduction

10. Open Access
• One might expect similar findings on the growing
availability of open access material as with scholarly
piracy. However, open access material is not always easy
to find.
• ILL requests for open access material at Indiana
University–Purdue University Indianapolis more than
doubled between 2009 and 2013 (Baich 72). These
requests may lead to staff actually locating and
downloading said material instead of pushing the request
through, however they’re beneficial because requests are
being filled at a fast rate and at a low cost (Baich 74),
• These benefits culminate in an increased value of ILL in
an academic library setting.

11. Marketing and Outreach of ILL
Services
• UC Santa Cruz’ ILL department has made it a top priority
to focus on the marketing and promotion of its services,
especially towards the undergraduate population which
make up the smallest percentage of ILL users.
• UCSC has seen a significant increase in borrowing
requests. It is unclear if this will become a growing trend
in academic libraries or if UCSC is unique in this aspect.

12. Marketing and Outreach of ILL
Services
Methods
• Having booths at incoming student orientations
• Giving short presentations during welcome week
activities
• Working with other departments to ensure that
information about ILL is included in library tours and
information sessions.
Results
• UCSC has seen a significant increase in borrowing
requests.

13. Marketing and Outreach of ILL
Services
UC Santa Cruz, Interlibrary Loan informational trifold

14. Conclusions
Interlibrary Loan and Resource Sharing units can redefine
ILL’s place in the academic library and raise the library’s
profile as the heart of the academic community by focusing
on:
• marketing and outreach
• increased collaboration between departments
• leveraging shared collections
• striving towards a viable librarian-patron-publisher
pleasing platform for lending eBooks

15. Thank You!
QUESTIONS?
jiespin2@illinois.edu