ILL and Acquisitions: Working Together to Get Users What They Need When They Need It

Arthur and Decker presented the plan they have developed to establish a new workflow foracquiring requested collections materials. The collaboration between acquisitions andinterlibrary loan departments seeks to improve service and ensure quick fulfillment of resourcerequests as the Libraries move toward a point-of-need model over collection building, reflectinguser expectations and shifts in Liaison roles. The pilot project established criteria for making apurchase rather than a loan, including purchasing selected English-language materials publishedin the past five years with eBook as the priority over print, and expedited shipping for physicalitems so users could rely on quick turnaround. Staff can add titles to the DDA pool via theireBook provider and primary book vendor. Communication between the departments isfacilitated by use of existing email accounts that are monitored daily. The full implementationwill start in January, monthly meetings will offer opportunities to consider modifications to thecriteria and workflow, and assessment is planned to begin in April.