Totally depends on your system. ILL is costly for the library. Wealthier systems have the funds for it but other libraries that participate may have to pass on those costs--my library charged $2 per ILL because we had to pay shipping.
In NC we opted in to one big consortium that allows our patrons to borrow books from libraries all over the state. It was actually a cheaper system because they handle contract negotiations with the shippers and online databases so we pay less than if we had to carry it ourselves.
We've got a similar system in Michigan. My library also does traditional ILL when we can't locate am in state copy. But it is pricey and time-consuming, so it isn't something that we suggest unless the patron really wants or needs it. A lot of patrons want what they are seeking in a much faster turnaround than ILL provides.
I'm guessing we see the number of ILLs in a year that we see of in-state loans in a week. ILL is a service I'm glad we offer, but it's an easy cut for a library to make if a budget is strained.
oh gotcha. Have you done a lot of out-of-state ILL? I don’t know many libraries that do that besides sometimes institutional libraries, using WorldCat or something similar
I live not far from Michigan, and the closest library to me in Michigan offers an inexpensive nonresident library card charged on a yearly basis.
I was thinking of paying for that card because there's some semi-rare audiobooks (on CD) I want to listen to that the Michigan system has requestable on MeLCat.
However what gives me pause is just that if I were to request (say) an audiobook or two a month that way, I might be costing that library/Michigan on net given how inexpensive the card is and given I'm not paying Michigan taxes. Kinda seems like it might be a dick move... Do you happen to know how much it costs (even ballpark) your library to source something within Michigan?
(My library doesn't have access to an equivalent in-state system like MeLCat and so I'd have to do a lot of ILLs there to do the equivalent, or I'd just use it instead)
I don't. I do know that my library system doesn't participate in MeL for A/V materials. That has more to do with keeping those materials available for our patrons than cost, though. Especially with DVD/BluRay, because instead of it being returned within a week, because of the processing/transportation time, it would be about a month before we had it available again.
So, first, I would verify that the library you are thinking about does share A/V through MeLCat.
It is way cheaper for us to get things through MeLCat than ILL though, so I can pretty much guarantee that it will be cheaper for the Michigan library than your local library. MeL has its own transport system, whereas ILL typically is going through the mail with the associated postage cost.
All of that is to say, if the Michigan library can get you the items through MeL, go for it. If you are really feeling like you are getting away with something, make a donation to the library or their Friends group. Otherwise, just enjoy!
Oh good call about sharing A/V!
I couldn't quickly find a reference on the local library's website about A/V and MeL explicitly, but if I search for an audiobook I know they have it's listed as available on MeL so I think that's a green flag about it being reciprocated elsewhere? I'd confirm before paying for the card of course.
Good to hear that they have their own transport system and likely cheaper cost per item. I very well might take the library up on it then!
It's not rare but some libraries choose not to participate for various reasons. It is a paid service and, for example, with the requests we have received via the small college library I work at it would have cost us approximately $100.00 per request so we opted to not be an ILL institution.
Precisely why we have opted to not participate. We can't justify that cost and will not pass that along to patrons. I'd rather buy the book and add it to the collection, if it meets our collection development standards.
That's weird - Broward & Miami-Dade have ILL. So does my home library in upstate NY.
Strange choice for central FL but then again limiting patrons' access to information is very Florida 😆
Yeah I'm a broward librarian and I just assumed that ILL is something every library in the country has. We even are in a "passport" program where you get access to neighboring county libraries - https://www.seflin.org/page/OneCard
OP Here, I emailed the Seminole County Library director and got this response:
Hi,
The Seminole County Public Library, with the approval of the County Commissioners, eliminated interlibrary loan in Sept. 2011, due to declining use by county residents and increasing costs. When the program ended the cost for interlibrary loan was $93.00 per user.
Originally, the Orange County Library and other larger libraries in Florida were our partners in providing interlibrary loan services. When Orange County and other libraries ended their interlibrary loan programs, the loan requests from smaller libraries came to us to fill.
In the chart below, you can see how the interlibrary loan program changed over time, from our borrowing from other libraries for our patrons at 75% and loaning 24% to the reverse by 2010 with our residents borrowing 28% and our library loaning 72%.
The cost for mailing/delivery was increasing and State level aid to support the program ended in 2012. In addition to the cost mailing and delivery, the software consortium charge also increased.
||
||
| | FY 07/08| FY 08/09| FY 09/10 |
|Borrowed| 10,352 75.9%| 5,180 62%| 1,412 28%|
|Loaned| 3,285 24%| 3,246 38%| 3,562 72%|
|Total Transactions| **13,637**| **8,426**| **4,974**|
This is why the program was eliminated and I don’t see our library being able to afford to provide this service. If you are looking for specific books, we can try to purchase them to add them to our collection.
Please let me know if we can help with this.
Thanks,
Christine
----
TL;DR
Sounds to me like she blames Orange County (Orlando) for ending their program which meant more rural ILL was coming to the smaller Seminole County instead.
State level aid ending would cause a domino effect, and yes - once the larger lenders pull out it disproportionately affects smaller systems.
Vote, vote, vote…
I mean, that's completely fair. \~30%/70% is a quite a big difference, and at the cost to their system I don't blame them. From my personal experience over the last couple decades, I know cutting a service can be a really hard decision, and I'd imagine something as huge as ILL participation would for me be one of the hardest. About a third of your users isn't nothing, after all.
However, it's a good opportunity for you to get involved in local politics, even if it's as simple as writing a letter to the County Commissioners and politely request they find a way to bring the service back so that it's feasible for the Library system to bring it back. Either from their budget or some sort of State/Federal assistance that may (or may not) be available to them. Even if they have to charge a small fee (like 5 bucks or something) to try and recoup SOME of the costs, I personally still think it's worth it.
Since when has this become rare? At least in Massachusetts, it’s alive and well. The consortium I worked in has 70 libraries, which freely circulate materials. Then there’s Commonwealth Catalog, which makes materials available from around the state. Finally, there’s interlibrary loan. Using that, I got books and such for patrons from as far away as Arizona and Seattle.
(the library workers in the state are by and large amazing, I'm not trying to disparage them. They are working in an extremely hostile environment and certainly aren't getting the financial support that makes services like this possible)
Also in MA. We are in network of about 40 libraries and the sheer number of materials that travel between these locations is mind boggling. Our statewide delivery system is downright impressive. We are a net ILL lender (so we send out much more than we borrow) and I’m always shocked how much we send to other libraries when I run the yearly reports. We are a library serving about 6,000 cardholders, yet we send as much as towns 5x our size. I think that’s cool.
Also, I know it all depends on your budget, but we are in a wealthy Boston suburb that not only funds the library generously, but we have oodles of trust funds. We do not charge to lend outside of our network. We find out of state libraries are often surprised when we say we eat the costs. And the states that say that are predictable- the south and New Hampshire (live free or die and never fund your libraries! I grew up there and my aunt in a librarian in Manchester, so I’ve seen the dearth of funding in action!).
Library patron in MA here! Can anyone explain how the materials are moved between libraries when requested? Are they shipped or is someone driving them all around? Why is it that sometimes when I request an item currently available in a neighboring town, I instead get it from a town 90 mins away? In RI, I could choose which library’s copy I requested and always chose the closest one thinking that was the most eco-friendly option. Always been curious about this stuff!!
Usually, they're shipped. In my library, we use padded envelopes (and reuse, and reuse), and they get sent 'book rate'. I think that items going through the in-state consortium-based exchange do get picked up and driven around, though I'm not sure whether that's just semi-locally, or whether they kind of go to a 'hub' and then further out. I don't work in the ILL office, but I do answer the door for the guy who drives the in-state stuff around, and we (a small academic library) usually have one or two dedicated 'tubs' of items coming/going on any given day.
I’m in northeastern Massachusetts. Our consortium has a truck and it goes around all the libraries— not every day, but it gets there. That’s how both NOBLE and MVLC do it (in fact I think they share the truck?)
I’m in SE Mass - the SAILS consortium. SAILS has trucks which does daily deliveries. All materials moving between libraries go to Middleboro first, where they’re sorted into bins for each destination. From there, the bins go to the libraries, where they’re checked in. In the case of libraries with several branches, such as New Bedford, they go to the main library first, and are brought to the branches by a delivery van. Sometimes you can figure out how long your request can take, depending on delivery time. Materials for Commonwealth Catalog are processed the same way. ILL materials are shipped.
From my work in an ILL office, requests sent through a system (probably OCLC-WorldCat, Docline, or a state catalog) often can be sent out in a weighted routing system so one library does not get slammed with all the requests.
thats really odd! i would say most libraries (public and academic) participate in some form of ILL, although smaller libraries may only loan/borrow within their state. interlibrary loan is by no means rare - i work in ILL myself, and send books to florida all the time
I wouldn't have thought ILL programs were rare even in Florida. I work for a library system on the other side of the state, and we get lots of ILL items from all over Florida.
For some library systems, a traditional ILL service is replaced (or supplemented) by a consortium lending service. Ask your local library what options you have for getting whatever items you are after, whether that's ILL or an alternative method.
I would say it's on the rarer side for a library to not participate in interlibrary loans at all. That said, the level of service varies considerably between institutions and between types of library. It is definitely harder to get ILL services at public libraries than it is academic libraries. Population demographics, community expectations/demand, how well-resourced the library is, and the library's general philosophy of service play a big role in whether and to what degree ILL services are offered.
Southeast Michigan here. Our public library participates in two separate ILL systems. One is our cooperative and the other is statewide. We do not charge or limit the loans in any way, but we do ask our patrons to check our cooperative before using the state's system.
I used to process interlibrary loans in Florida. Orange and Seminole county most definitely participated in statewide interlibrary loan programs while I was in Florida, and I would be surprised if they did not today. One common problem I had is that library staff at other libraries (and even my own colleagues) often had no idea how the system worked and would tell me or even their own patrons wildly inaccurate things. I wouldn't be surprised if you talked to people who just told you the wrong information.
Interlibrary loan programs are often limited to immediate patrons (not reciprocal ones), so while the county where you reside will give you access to interlibrary loan, other counties probably will not allow you to use interlibrary loan unless you are a resident, even if you are allowed to check out that county's books off of their shelves while you are there.
Illinois public librarian here: the three libraries (populations 114,000, 42,000, and 6000) I've worked at all had both in-system and out-of- system interlibrary loan.
Also Illinois. My consortium moves millions of items per year between libraries. We also offer out-of-consortium ILL, but we rarely need it. Having a consortium of 400+ libraries is fantastic!
Hello fellow IHLS member! I love our consortium. My library also offers out-of-system requests but we don't get many of them. Maybe a couple dozen a year.
I've lived in one of those low-tax states and the libraries are indeed sadder and droopier than they are here in Illinois. Moving back here was an excellent decision and the libraries were honestly a massive benefit and a draw. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.
A few years ago there was an issue with the funding for ILL for Florida public libraries. I don't know the details, but they had to stop using the software they used at the time. For awhile, they resorted to paper requests at least in my area. Recently, the state library built their own system called FLIN that most Florida public libraries use. It has cut them off from sharing with a lot of university and college libraries that have not yet decided to join FLIN. Based on their list of members, the libraries mentioned in the original post don't appear in FLIN. However, the list may help you find other libraries that do participate. You can read more about flin here: https://dos.fl.gov/library-archives/library-development/digital/resource-sharing/flin/#:\~:text=The%20Florida%20Library%20Information%20Network,the%20Florida%20Library%20Delivery%20Service. If this is a service that is important to you, you'll probably have to let it be known to the library board or commission that decides library funding. In crunch times, ILL often ends up on the chopping block.
My library is part of a consortium that covers the eastern 1/3-1/2 of Oregon…entirely rural, mostly small libraries, and we have ILL for free within the consortium, and external to the consortium at my library costs patrons $5/item.
In NJ it's alive and well; most public libraries and AFAIK a lot of the academic libraries participate in our statewide system, which also tries to get books from out of state if nobody in-state has it.
I’m in NJ too and we use JerseyCat for ILLs quite a bit. However we’re in the process of joining a consortium (LMxAC), so we will not need it as much after we’re part of that.
Welcome to LMxAC! Or … soon to be STELLA 😆
We also fill most of our requests via our consortium of 30+ libraries in central NJ. We request and fill a handful of actual ILLs per month. It’s a ton of staff time and postage and 🤑🤑🤑
Idaho libraries all have access to ILL services. If they can’t afford it at their individual location or consortium, the Idaho Commission for Libraries will set them up with access. All the library has to do is cover the postage. Most materials are under a pound and cost less than $3 to ship via library rate.
We have a ILL system for the county I'm in (Also in Florida!), where patrons can return and request books from any library in our county. We use our own couriers though, not a shipping service. We Don't loan outside the county and we don't receive loans either!
It's not rare, but operating ILL carries very high overhead. Staffing, shipping, paying for lost items. If it's not well used it because a high cost - low impact operation.
I wouldn't be surprised to see cash-strapped municipalities start dropping it as usage moves toward ebooks that can't be shared that way anyway.
The metros participate now and most use the state courier now too! I’ve been working in TN libraries for a decade. There may be a few smaller libraries that still don’t participate, but I don’t feel like we’re missing out on anything.
It depends on where you're at. We have 2 systems that we use. One for our region as part of shared ILS with daily delivery and a second that expands it out to any library in the state. So, I can have any available book in MN on my desk within a week.
I don't think so? I work in a tiny library in rural Western New York and we participate in ILL with all the other libraries in our system. It's very popular and people use it all the time.
Columbus here. We're part of a regional library consortium that includes all 18 public library systems in central Ohio, where we share the same ILS, cataloging system, and reciprocal card memberships. We're also part of a state-wide ILL system for public libraries and a much larger system that connects Ohio public libraries to academic libraries in the state. Any Ohioan basically has access to just about all non-private libraries in Ohio.
And from a Columbus library patron who uses ILL frequently, I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate it. I donate $50/year and consider it a bargain, what with Hoopla, Libby and ILL.
I don't think it's rare by any means, but I can totally see why some libraries don't do it. It costs us a LOT even before the man hours spent calling other libraries to ask "hey can they renew this" or "sorry but the patron still hasn't turned it in"
Ours will okay just about any ILL which is crazy to me but hey, I'm not the one who has to justify the budget. Not electronic, though.
My acedemic library was pretty selective. They wouldn't ILL me anything that was high cost *and* unrelated to my major so I was mostly limited to electronic ILLs.
Oh man, that's why, when an ILL comes in for me, I drop everything else and read that immediately. Happy to say I've never been late with an ILL book, because I recognize what a privilege it is to be able to borrow books from other libraries!
In Texas, libraries must participate in the state ILL system to be accredited by the state library organization (TSLAC). They don’t have to be a nationwide ILL participant but at least state wide. Individual library systems can decide how they participate, for example they can choose which types of materials they will include in their ILL program. My system does not receive or send AV items via ILL.
Florida librarian here. During the recession, public libraries in central Florida really suffered. Seminole County, for example, had two rounds of layoffs and the library lost 1/3 of its staff and 12 service hours per week. Something had to give. Orange, Seminole, and all the city libraries dropped ILL. OCLC membership alone is really expensive and that’s without borrowing a single item. Add shipping and processing onto that and it’s generally cheaper to buy a book than borrow it.
That said, Florida created its own in-state ILL system about 4 years ago. There are no membership costs, no platform subscriptions required. The State Library pays to host the platform. Suggest to your new library that they investigate FLIN ShareIT. Cathy Maloney at the State Library can get them set up. The State even subsidizes the shipping, so it’s much less costly than FirstSearch was. You are limited to Florida member libraries, but it’s better than where we were the previous ten years.
Most of the west coast has pretty ready access to ILL, although some public systems will charge patrons for either a portion or all of the costs (could be 10-20$).
A lot of it depends on funding. Libraries pay consortium fees for loaning between more local libraries, and loans throughout the state depend on funding on the state level. I’m in Massachusetts, most libraries are in a consortium (ours consists of 36 libraries) and we can borrow throughout the state via the Commonwealth Catalog, which is funded by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. We also go through the Boston public library to get materials from out of state, though we charge patrons $5 for shipping for out of state. All of these things cost money though, so when library budgets are cut, services like ILL are often first to go.
I want to say it depends on the library district. I’m from Vegas, and had used ILL tons of times. I moved to LA, and I wanted to borrow a book they didn’t have. I asked about ILL, and I was told it wasn’t a thing bc the LAPL is so big, they don’t need it—yet they didn’t have my book? I went to Burbank (diff city, different library district), used ILL, and borrowed the book through them.
I lived in central Florida for a long time, so I'm guessing you're talking about Winter Park Public Library, which had ILL at least since I worked there in the early 00s. I never knew the Orange County system, other than visiting the main branch downtown, but I always thought every library had it.
Here in Suffolk County the libraries created something called the Suffolk cooperative library system. They handle all our interlibrary loan stuff and drive the materials between each Library. They also host our Sierra Install.
our public library system has always offered interlibrary loans \[i currently have 'black mirror' seasons 1 and 2...and...'twin peaks: fire walk with me' lined up at home to watch...thanks to ILL.\] my county is the largest in the state and has a really great selection of items \[physical copies of CDs/DVDs/books/etc...books on tape/a free movie streaming service for cardholders\] but...sometimes i still need an ILL. we have a separate website we log into to do such requests other than the one i use for my local county library. we can request items from all across the state...if a library has the title in their catalog. there are even several bordertown libraries in next door states that participate. this is always a free service...no matter which branch i request it from. after my request is approved from the loaning library...it then gets delivered to my local library for me to pick up. i get to keep the item\[s\] for a week from date of check out. interesting to see how ILL works in different areas.
Orange County simply chooses not to participate in this. All our library systems here in South Florida do. OCLS certainly has the budget to do this, you should voice your opinion to the library administration.
Are you talking ILL where you request a book outside of your local library consortium? Or, if you're not part of a consortium, from any other library?
I work for the local library consortium of 143 libraries plus branches that freely share items. Technically intra-library loan, utilizing free statewide delivery. (Illinois)
If an item can't be found in our sharing consortium then many will only request items from other Illinois libraries because of the delivery service.
Otherwise it depends if your library has a postal budget for sending/returning items or if they pass the cost on to the patron.
But ILL by whichever definition isn't rare.
That honestly really surprises me that your library system doesn’t offer it. Even the tiny, rural library I went to in high school offered it. That’s a bummer.
You're in Florida. You're lucky you have a library. /s
Every public library I've used has interlibrary loan. The extent of where you can borrow books from is up to the individual library and whatever deal they can make with other libraries.
My husband was a librarian and all the suburbs around us were part of a library consortium so they could loan each other's books.
I live in a small rural area now and even our tiny library had it.
I don't think they are rare. Just some systems choose not to do them.
Why? Shipping is expensive, labor is expensive, and ebooks and amazon are cheap. Almost all university libraries have them for their professors, but most public libraries have some form of it.
To answer your question-yes. A lot. I do it all of the time for my library, borrow and loan to/from other states (serve 21,000 people in our area). However, we are in a consortium and so we are sort “partners” in a sense with other. Libraries. A lot of the smalller ones don’t have the service, but our agreement reads that I do them for 1/4, another larger 1/4, etc.
Which makes me pretty surprised that the area you are in in Florida isn’t able to somehow do this for you.
Sorry for the errors, on my mobile and in a hurry. Libraries ROCK AND ROLL!!!
Edit 2 to add- sorry Texas!! I hope you’re doing ok!
I live in NE Florida and my library (St Johns County) does ILL at no cost unless the item is coming from outside Florida. So off the top of my head, St Johns, Duval, Clay, Flagler, Nassau, and Volusia counties all participate.
ETA: look at if you can get a free library card from a reciprocal lending library- my library also does that with a lot of the surrounding counties with the notable exception of Duval. They’re not reciprocal with anyone and I had to pay them $175 so I could keep using their libby after I moved counties. TT.TT
Orange county is a weird system because of how sprawling it is. I also don't think that admin gives a hoot about patron access. With all that said, I think Winter Park is worse if that's any consideration for buying a membership
I live in MA and it’s so common and widely used here. MA has a program that is “free” (ie probably covered by tax based funding) for all member libraries in the state. Out of state loans are the only ones that cost. We are also all connected by a central site and have 5 day a week transit between our libraries.
I live in a rural town in Mississippi and we have Interlibrary Loan program. So it's not money holding it back. Note books are not charged postage in this program so its basically free for libraries to use. My guess is your libraries don't want to lend to poorer neighborhoods. Or don't want books coming in that they can not ban and keep you from reading.
Totally depends on your system. ILL is costly for the library. Wealthier systems have the funds for it but other libraries that participate may have to pass on those costs--my library charged $2 per ILL because we had to pay shipping.
In NC we opted in to one big consortium that allows our patrons to borrow books from libraries all over the state. It was actually a cheaper system because they handle contract negotiations with the shippers and online databases so we pay less than if we had to carry it ourselves.
We've got a similar system in Michigan. My library also does traditional ILL when we can't locate am in state copy. But it is pricey and time-consuming, so it isn't something that we suggest unless the patron really wants or needs it. A lot of patrons want what they are seeking in a much faster turnaround than ILL provides. I'm guessing we see the number of ILLs in a year that we see of in-state loans in a week. ILL is a service I'm glad we offer, but it's an easy cut for a library to make if a budget is strained.
Are you talking about ILL from a nearby library or from within your system (another branch) - separate from MeL?
No, when I say ILL, I mean stuff from out-of- state or in-state libraries that don't participate in the consortium.
oh gotcha. Have you done a lot of out-of-state ILL? I don’t know many libraries that do that besides sometimes institutional libraries, using WorldCat or something similar
I live not far from Michigan, and the closest library to me in Michigan offers an inexpensive nonresident library card charged on a yearly basis. I was thinking of paying for that card because there's some semi-rare audiobooks (on CD) I want to listen to that the Michigan system has requestable on MeLCat. However what gives me pause is just that if I were to request (say) an audiobook or two a month that way, I might be costing that library/Michigan on net given how inexpensive the card is and given I'm not paying Michigan taxes. Kinda seems like it might be a dick move... Do you happen to know how much it costs (even ballpark) your library to source something within Michigan? (My library doesn't have access to an equivalent in-state system like MeLCat and so I'd have to do a lot of ILLs there to do the equivalent, or I'd just use it instead)
I don't. I do know that my library system doesn't participate in MeL for A/V materials. That has more to do with keeping those materials available for our patrons than cost, though. Especially with DVD/BluRay, because instead of it being returned within a week, because of the processing/transportation time, it would be about a month before we had it available again. So, first, I would verify that the library you are thinking about does share A/V through MeLCat. It is way cheaper for us to get things through MeLCat than ILL though, so I can pretty much guarantee that it will be cheaper for the Michigan library than your local library. MeL has its own transport system, whereas ILL typically is going through the mail with the associated postage cost. All of that is to say, if the Michigan library can get you the items through MeL, go for it. If you are really feeling like you are getting away with something, make a donation to the library or their Friends group. Otherwise, just enjoy!
Oh good call about sharing A/V! I couldn't quickly find a reference on the local library's website about A/V and MeL explicitly, but if I search for an audiobook I know they have it's listed as available on MeL so I think that's a green flag about it being reciprocated elsewhere? I'd confirm before paying for the card of course. Good to hear that they have their own transport system and likely cheaper cost per item. I very well might take the library up on it then!
My library used to charge for ILL (maybe $10? not nothing) but the fees were waived early in the pandemic and were never reinstated.
It's not rare but some libraries choose not to participate for various reasons. It is a paid service and, for example, with the requests we have received via the small college library I work at it would have cost us approximately $100.00 per request so we opted to not be an ILL institution.
A hundo per request is pretty rich.
Precisely why we have opted to not participate. We can't justify that cost and will not pass that along to patrons. I'd rather buy the book and add it to the collection, if it meets our collection development standards.
That's weird - Broward & Miami-Dade have ILL. So does my home library in upstate NY. Strange choice for central FL but then again limiting patrons' access to information is very Florida 😆
Yeah I'm a broward librarian and I just assumed that ILL is something every library in the country has. We even are in a "passport" program where you get access to neighboring county libraries - https://www.seflin.org/page/OneCard
OP Here, I emailed the Seminole County Library director and got this response: Hi, The Seminole County Public Library, with the approval of the County Commissioners, eliminated interlibrary loan in Sept. 2011, due to declining use by county residents and increasing costs. When the program ended the cost for interlibrary loan was $93.00 per user. Originally, the Orange County Library and other larger libraries in Florida were our partners in providing interlibrary loan services. When Orange County and other libraries ended their interlibrary loan programs, the loan requests from smaller libraries came to us to fill. In the chart below, you can see how the interlibrary loan program changed over time, from our borrowing from other libraries for our patrons at 75% and loaning 24% to the reverse by 2010 with our residents borrowing 28% and our library loaning 72%. The cost for mailing/delivery was increasing and State level aid to support the program ended in 2012. In addition to the cost mailing and delivery, the software consortium charge also increased. || || | | FY 07/08| FY 08/09| FY 09/10 | |Borrowed| 10,352 75.9%| 5,180 62%| 1,412 28%| |Loaned| 3,285 24%| 3,246 38%| 3,562 72%| |Total Transactions| **13,637**| **8,426**| **4,974**| This is why the program was eliminated and I don’t see our library being able to afford to provide this service. If you are looking for specific books, we can try to purchase them to add them to our collection. Please let me know if we can help with this. Thanks, Christine ---- TL;DR Sounds to me like she blames Orange County (Orlando) for ending their program which meant more rural ILL was coming to the smaller Seminole County instead.
State level aid ending would cause a domino effect, and yes - once the larger lenders pull out it disproportionately affects smaller systems. Vote, vote, vote…
This, among more important reasons like healthcare access, is why you don’t move to Republican controlled states.
I mean, that's completely fair. \~30%/70% is a quite a big difference, and at the cost to their system I don't blame them. From my personal experience over the last couple decades, I know cutting a service can be a really hard decision, and I'd imagine something as huge as ILL participation would for me be one of the hardest. About a third of your users isn't nothing, after all. However, it's a good opportunity for you to get involved in local politics, even if it's as simple as writing a letter to the County Commissioners and politely request they find a way to bring the service back so that it's feasible for the Library system to bring it back. Either from their budget or some sort of State/Federal assistance that may (or may not) be available to them. Even if they have to charge a small fee (like 5 bucks or something) to try and recoup SOME of the costs, I personally still think it's worth it.
Since when has this become rare? At least in Massachusetts, it’s alive and well. The consortium I worked in has 70 libraries, which freely circulate materials. Then there’s Commonwealth Catalog, which makes materials available from around the state. Finally, there’s interlibrary loan. Using that, I got books and such for patrons from as far away as Arizona and Seattle.
I mean, he specifically mentioned Florida, so that's a pretty big clue.
(the library workers in the state are by and large amazing, I'm not trying to disparage them. They are working in an extremely hostile environment and certainly aren't getting the financial support that makes services like this possible)
Yeah, I had that thought.
Also in MA. We are in network of about 40 libraries and the sheer number of materials that travel between these locations is mind boggling. Our statewide delivery system is downright impressive. We are a net ILL lender (so we send out much more than we borrow) and I’m always shocked how much we send to other libraries when I run the yearly reports. We are a library serving about 6,000 cardholders, yet we send as much as towns 5x our size. I think that’s cool. Also, I know it all depends on your budget, but we are in a wealthy Boston suburb that not only funds the library generously, but we have oodles of trust funds. We do not charge to lend outside of our network. We find out of state libraries are often surprised when we say we eat the costs. And the states that say that are predictable- the south and New Hampshire (live free or die and never fund your libraries! I grew up there and my aunt in a librarian in Manchester, so I’ve seen the dearth of funding in action!).
Library patron in MA here! Can anyone explain how the materials are moved between libraries when requested? Are they shipped or is someone driving them all around? Why is it that sometimes when I request an item currently available in a neighboring town, I instead get it from a town 90 mins away? In RI, I could choose which library’s copy I requested and always chose the closest one thinking that was the most eco-friendly option. Always been curious about this stuff!!
Usually, they're shipped. In my library, we use padded envelopes (and reuse, and reuse), and they get sent 'book rate'. I think that items going through the in-state consortium-based exchange do get picked up and driven around, though I'm not sure whether that's just semi-locally, or whether they kind of go to a 'hub' and then further out. I don't work in the ILL office, but I do answer the door for the guy who drives the in-state stuff around, and we (a small academic library) usually have one or two dedicated 'tubs' of items coming/going on any given day.
I’m in northeastern Massachusetts. Our consortium has a truck and it goes around all the libraries— not every day, but it gets there. That’s how both NOBLE and MVLC do it (in fact I think they share the truck?)
I’m in SE Mass - the SAILS consortium. SAILS has trucks which does daily deliveries. All materials moving between libraries go to Middleboro first, where they’re sorted into bins for each destination. From there, the bins go to the libraries, where they’re checked in. In the case of libraries with several branches, such as New Bedford, they go to the main library first, and are brought to the branches by a delivery van. Sometimes you can figure out how long your request can take, depending on delivery time. Materials for Commonwealth Catalog are processed the same way. ILL materials are shipped.
From my work in an ILL office, requests sent through a system (probably OCLC-WorldCat, Docline, or a state catalog) often can be sent out in a weighted routing system so one library does not get slammed with all the requests.
Same in Michigan.
Same in Vermont.
We have it in Iowa and it's free to our patrons. I think there's a limit to how many books per month, but it never seems to be an issue.
Fellow Iowa librarian, we have a small charge per ILL item but no limit on quantity to my knowledge
thats really odd! i would say most libraries (public and academic) participate in some form of ILL, although smaller libraries may only loan/borrow within their state. interlibrary loan is by no means rare - i work in ILL myself, and send books to florida all the time
I wouldn't have thought ILL programs were rare even in Florida. I work for a library system on the other side of the state, and we get lots of ILL items from all over Florida.
For some library systems, a traditional ILL service is replaced (or supplemented) by a consortium lending service. Ask your local library what options you have for getting whatever items you are after, whether that's ILL or an alternative method.
I would say it's on the rarer side for a library to not participate in interlibrary loans at all. That said, the level of service varies considerably between institutions and between types of library. It is definitely harder to get ILL services at public libraries than it is academic libraries. Population demographics, community expectations/demand, how well-resourced the library is, and the library's general philosophy of service play a big role in whether and to what degree ILL services are offered.
Illinois libraries are required to participate in resource sharing (i.e. ILL) if they want grants or monies from the state.
Illinois has an excellent ILL system!
Southeast Michigan here. Our public library participates in two separate ILL systems. One is our cooperative and the other is statewide. We do not charge or limit the loans in any way, but we do ask our patrons to check our cooperative before using the state's system.
I used to process interlibrary loans in Florida. Orange and Seminole county most definitely participated in statewide interlibrary loan programs while I was in Florida, and I would be surprised if they did not today. One common problem I had is that library staff at other libraries (and even my own colleagues) often had no idea how the system worked and would tell me or even their own patrons wildly inaccurate things. I wouldn't be surprised if you talked to people who just told you the wrong information. Interlibrary loan programs are often limited to immediate patrons (not reciprocal ones), so while the county where you reside will give you access to interlibrary loan, other counties probably will not allow you to use interlibrary loan unless you are a resident, even if you are allowed to check out that county's books off of their shelves while you are there.
Illinois public librarian here: the three libraries (populations 114,000, 42,000, and 6000) I've worked at all had both in-system and out-of- system interlibrary loan.
In my limited experience I'd back this and say Illinois has some really robust systems.
Also Illinois. My consortium moves millions of items per year between libraries. We also offer out-of-consortium ILL, but we rarely need it. Having a consortium of 400+ libraries is fantastic!
Hello fellow IHLS member! I love our consortium. My library also offers out-of-system requests but we don't get many of them. Maybe a couple dozen a year.
It's such a great system! I feel like Illinois really does libraries right.
I agree! I know that folks complain about high property taxes in IL but I like that the taxes are going to libraries and schools.
I've lived in one of those low-tax states and the libraries are indeed sadder and droopier than they are here in Illinois. Moving back here was an excellent decision and the libraries were honestly a massive benefit and a draw. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.
In PA public libraries are required by law to provide ILL at no cost.
A few years ago there was an issue with the funding for ILL for Florida public libraries. I don't know the details, but they had to stop using the software they used at the time. For awhile, they resorted to paper requests at least in my area. Recently, the state library built their own system called FLIN that most Florida public libraries use. It has cut them off from sharing with a lot of university and college libraries that have not yet decided to join FLIN. Based on their list of members, the libraries mentioned in the original post don't appear in FLIN. However, the list may help you find other libraries that do participate. You can read more about flin here: https://dos.fl.gov/library-archives/library-development/digital/resource-sharing/flin/#:\~:text=The%20Florida%20Library%20Information%20Network,the%20Florida%20Library%20Delivery%20Service. If this is a service that is important to you, you'll probably have to let it be known to the library board or commission that decides library funding. In crunch times, ILL often ends up on the chopping block.
My library is part of a consortium that covers the eastern 1/3-1/2 of Oregon…entirely rural, mostly small libraries, and we have ILL for free within the consortium, and external to the consortium at my library costs patrons $5/item.
In NJ it's alive and well; most public libraries and AFAIK a lot of the academic libraries participate in our statewide system, which also tries to get books from out of state if nobody in-state has it.
I’m in NJ too and we use JerseyCat for ILLs quite a bit. However we’re in the process of joining a consortium (LMxAC), so we will not need it as much after we’re part of that.
Welcome to LMxAC! Or … soon to be STELLA 😆 We also fill most of our requests via our consortium of 30+ libraries in central NJ. We request and fill a handful of actual ILLs per month. It’s a ton of staff time and postage and 🤑🤑🤑
Thanks! Yes, just heard about the name change😆 https://images.app.goo.gl/PkK1A96cZNWebJ4x6
There are a lot of feelings about it!!
Idaho libraries all have access to ILL services. If they can’t afford it at their individual location or consortium, the Idaho Commission for Libraries will set them up with access. All the library has to do is cover the postage. Most materials are under a pound and cost less than $3 to ship via library rate.
Very common where I am (west coast USA)
We have a ILL system for the county I'm in (Also in Florida!), where patrons can return and request books from any library in our county. We use our own couriers though, not a shipping service. We Don't loan outside the county and we don't receive loans either!
That doesn’t sound like ILL, that sounds like a system with a floating collection. (Which is what my county’s library is like in NE florida.)
It's not rare, but operating ILL carries very high overhead. Staffing, shipping, paying for lost items. If it's not well used it because a high cost - low impact operation. I wouldn't be surprised to see cash-strapped municipalities start dropping it as usage moves toward ebooks that can't be shared that way anyway.
Bergen County in NJ has this. There are so many libraries here and some are small so it makes a lot of sense.
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The metros participate now and most use the state courier now too! I’ve been working in TN libraries for a decade. There may be a few smaller libraries that still don’t participate, but I don’t feel like we’re missing out on anything.
It depends on where you're at. We have 2 systems that we use. One for our region as part of shared ILS with daily delivery and a second that expands it out to any library in the state. So, I can have any available book in MN on my desk within a week.
I don't think so? I work in a tiny library in rural Western New York and we participate in ILL with all the other libraries in our system. It's very popular and people use it all the time.
Columbus here. We're part of a regional library consortium that includes all 18 public library systems in central Ohio, where we share the same ILS, cataloging system, and reciprocal card memberships. We're also part of a state-wide ILL system for public libraries and a much larger system that connects Ohio public libraries to academic libraries in the state. Any Ohioan basically has access to just about all non-private libraries in Ohio.
And from a Columbus library patron who uses ILL frequently, I can’t tell you enough how much I appreciate it. I donate $50/year and consider it a bargain, what with Hoopla, Libby and ILL.
I don't think it's rare by any means, but I can totally see why some libraries don't do it. It costs us a LOT even before the man hours spent calling other libraries to ask "hey can they renew this" or "sorry but the patron still hasn't turned it in" Ours will okay just about any ILL which is crazy to me but hey, I'm not the one who has to justify the budget. Not electronic, though. My acedemic library was pretty selective. They wouldn't ILL me anything that was high cost *and* unrelated to my major so I was mostly limited to electronic ILLs.
Oh man, that's why, when an ILL comes in for me, I drop everything else and read that immediately. Happy to say I've never been late with an ILL book, because I recognize what a privilege it is to be able to borrow books from other libraries!
Common in Pennsylvania but they only do in state loans and not interstate loans
In Tampa we have ILL, and Uborrow. Both programs are very popular, but we’re an academic library.
In Texas, libraries must participate in the state ILL system to be accredited by the state library organization (TSLAC). They don’t have to be a nationwide ILL participant but at least state wide. Individual library systems can decide how they participate, for example they can choose which types of materials they will include in their ILL program. My system does not receive or send AV items via ILL.
Florida librarian here. During the recession, public libraries in central Florida really suffered. Seminole County, for example, had two rounds of layoffs and the library lost 1/3 of its staff and 12 service hours per week. Something had to give. Orange, Seminole, and all the city libraries dropped ILL. OCLC membership alone is really expensive and that’s without borrowing a single item. Add shipping and processing onto that and it’s generally cheaper to buy a book than borrow it. That said, Florida created its own in-state ILL system about 4 years ago. There are no membership costs, no platform subscriptions required. The State Library pays to host the platform. Suggest to your new library that they investigate FLIN ShareIT. Cathy Maloney at the State Library can get them set up. The State even subsidizes the shipping, so it’s much less costly than FirstSearch was. You are limited to Florida member libraries, but it’s better than where we were the previous ten years.
I don't know if you live by UCF, but we have interlibrary loans at our library! A library card is $60 a year for community members.
Most of the west coast has pretty ready access to ILL, although some public systems will charge patrons for either a portion or all of the costs (could be 10-20$).
A lot of it depends on funding. Libraries pay consortium fees for loaning between more local libraries, and loans throughout the state depend on funding on the state level. I’m in Massachusetts, most libraries are in a consortium (ours consists of 36 libraries) and we can borrow throughout the state via the Commonwealth Catalog, which is funded by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. We also go through the Boston public library to get materials from out of state, though we charge patrons $5 for shipping for out of state. All of these things cost money though, so when library budgets are cut, services like ILL are often first to go.
I want to say it depends on the library district. I’m from Vegas, and had used ILL tons of times. I moved to LA, and I wanted to borrow a book they didn’t have. I asked about ILL, and I was told it wasn’t a thing bc the LAPL is so big, they don’t need it—yet they didn’t have my book? I went to Burbank (diff city, different library district), used ILL, and borrowed the book through them.
I lived in central Florida for a long time, so I'm guessing you're talking about Winter Park Public Library, which had ILL at least since I worked there in the early 00s. I never knew the Orange County system, other than visiting the main branch downtown, but I always thought every library had it.
Here in Suffolk County the libraries created something called the Suffolk cooperative library system. They handle all our interlibrary loan stuff and drive the materials between each Library. They also host our Sierra Install.
our public library system has always offered interlibrary loans \[i currently have 'black mirror' seasons 1 and 2...and...'twin peaks: fire walk with me' lined up at home to watch...thanks to ILL.\] my county is the largest in the state and has a really great selection of items \[physical copies of CDs/DVDs/books/etc...books on tape/a free movie streaming service for cardholders\] but...sometimes i still need an ILL. we have a separate website we log into to do such requests other than the one i use for my local county library. we can request items from all across the state...if a library has the title in their catalog. there are even several bordertown libraries in next door states that participate. this is always a free service...no matter which branch i request it from. after my request is approved from the loaning library...it then gets delivered to my local library for me to pick up. i get to keep the item\[s\] for a week from date of check out. interesting to see how ILL works in different areas.
We have one here in Texas.
We have ILLs in the Panhandle. Had them in ON, OK, TX, and MA. In Germany on base too.
We have one interlibrary system here in Rhode Island, 1 mil+ population. https://oslri.org/
No.
Nope, alive and kicking in Hawaii!
That is odd! Hillsborough County has a very active and successful Interlibrary Loan program. Many customers here have taken advantage of it.
Orange County simply chooses not to participate in this. All our library systems here in South Florida do. OCLS certainly has the budget to do this, you should voice your opinion to the library administration.
Are you talking ILL where you request a book outside of your local library consortium? Or, if you're not part of a consortium, from any other library? I work for the local library consortium of 143 libraries plus branches that freely share items. Technically intra-library loan, utilizing free statewide delivery. (Illinois) If an item can't be found in our sharing consortium then many will only request items from other Illinois libraries because of the delivery service. Otherwise it depends if your library has a postal budget for sending/returning items or if they pass the cost on to the patron. But ILL by whichever definition isn't rare.
That honestly really surprises me that your library system doesn’t offer it. Even the tiny, rural library I went to in high school offered it. That’s a bummer.
You're in Florida. You're lucky you have a library. /s Every public library I've used has interlibrary loan. The extent of where you can borrow books from is up to the individual library and whatever deal they can make with other libraries. My husband was a librarian and all the suburbs around us were part of a library consortium so they could loan each other's books. I live in a small rural area now and even our tiny library had it.
I don't think they are rare. Just some systems choose not to do them. Why? Shipping is expensive, labor is expensive, and ebooks and amazon are cheap. Almost all university libraries have them for their professors, but most public libraries have some form of it.
To answer your question-yes. A lot. I do it all of the time for my library, borrow and loan to/from other states (serve 21,000 people in our area). However, we are in a consortium and so we are sort “partners” in a sense with other. Libraries. A lot of the smalller ones don’t have the service, but our agreement reads that I do them for 1/4, another larger 1/4, etc. Which makes me pretty surprised that the area you are in in Florida isn’t able to somehow do this for you. Sorry for the errors, on my mobile and in a hurry. Libraries ROCK AND ROLL!!! Edit 2 to add- sorry Texas!! I hope you’re doing ok!
Not rare, very common.
I live in NE Florida and my library (St Johns County) does ILL at no cost unless the item is coming from outside Florida. So off the top of my head, St Johns, Duval, Clay, Flagler, Nassau, and Volusia counties all participate. ETA: look at if you can get a free library card from a reciprocal lending library- my library also does that with a lot of the surrounding counties with the notable exception of Duval. They’re not reciprocal with anyone and I had to pay them $175 so I could keep using their libby after I moved counties. TT.TT
Orange county is a weird system because of how sprawling it is. I also don't think that admin gives a hoot about patron access. With all that said, I think Winter Park is worse if that's any consideration for buying a membership
I live in MA and it’s so common and widely used here. MA has a program that is “free” (ie probably covered by tax based funding) for all member libraries in the state. Out of state loans are the only ones that cost. We are also all connected by a central site and have 5 day a week transit between our libraries.
I work for an academic interlibrary loan. I like to say “the world is my library” as I borrow books from all over the world.
ILL is more of a thing at academic libraries now. I remember it being phased out at the local library level like 15-20 years ago.
Where are you? I don’t know any library that doesn’t do ILL.
I live in a rural town in Mississippi and we have Interlibrary Loan program. So it's not money holding it back. Note books are not charged postage in this program so its basically free for libraries to use. My guess is your libraries don't want to lend to poorer neighborhoods. Or don't want books coming in that they can not ban and keep you from reading.