Opportunities for Interlibrary Loan and Interlibrary Loan Librarians

Examining Change Within Interlibrary Loan

“…She reiterated that point in 2004, stating that ILL jobs will not be eliminated within the next decade, although the job will be very different (Jackson, 2004, p. 89). Nancy Egan (2007) also addresses this subject by outlining the expanded roles that interlibrary loan professionals might be taking on as "many interlibrary loan operations are now experiencing declines in demand due to the proliferation of fulltext electronic sources" even as "interlibrary loan has evolved into a more professional service center, staffed by people with more sophisticated skills" (p. 44). These roles include such tasks as the analysis of statistics (p. 47), the negotiation of cooperative agreements (p. 48), and the development of new services for patrons such as on-demand collection development or document delivery (p. 49).…”

“…To do this might mean that ILL departments team up with other departments in the library or forge new alliances. Egan (2007) points out that "many libraries are now positioning the interlibrary loan operation where it would best affect other departments' operations" (p. 46). As services change, ILL might find its home is better situated elsewhere in the library: "The role of ILL departments is evolving so much that in time they may even merge with other library services, such as acquisitions, circulation, access services, reference, preservation, or bibliographic instruction" (Posner, 2007, p. 7).…”

Interlending and document supply: a review of the recent literature: 62

“…devotes much of its latest issue to staffing issues. In particular, the opportunities for ILL librarians in a time of threat are explored by (Egan, 2007). As she writes:The service centers may experience declines in demand for their services.…”

Patron-Driven Acquisition and Circulation at an Academic Library: Interaction Effects and Circulation Performance of Print Books Acquired via Librarians’ Orders, Approval Plans, and Patrons’ Interlibrary Loan Requests

“…In rapidly short order, the library literature has gone from suggesting that acquisitions or collection development will, could, or should be part of the future of ILL (Alder 2007;Chadwell 2009;Egan 2007;Hodges, Preston, and Hamilton 2010;McHone-Chase 2010;Murphy and Rupp-Serrano 1999;Oberlander 2006;Posner 2007;Reighart and Oberlander 2008;Richey 2010;Watson 2004) to asserting that PDA and purchase-on-demand (POD)-style programs have largely proven themselves and are well on their way toward becoming advisable, established, necessary, standard, and/or "more sane" practice (Anderson 2010;Dillon 2011;Fischer et al 2012; Hussong-Christian and Goergen-Doll 2010b; Jones 2011; Levine-Clark 2011; Miller 2011; Nixon et al 2010; Schroeder 2012; Tyler 2011; Way and Garrison 2011). There certainly seems to be evidence for a burgeoning widespread adoption of PDA for print materials, for although long-established programs are still somewhat uncommon, pilot and test programs, as well as libraries on the verge of launching them, appear to be legion (Carlisle Fountain and Frederiksen 2010; Lenares and Delquie 2010; Osorio 2011; Wexelbaum and Heinrich 2011).…”