1976

INTERLIBRARY LOAN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Our interlibrary loan program is based on the premise that lending among libraries for the benefit of individuals in Nassau and Suffolk counties is in the public interest and should be encouraged. It is impossible for any one library to be self-sufficient, and interlibrary borrowing and lending is regarded by the libraries participating in this program as essential to library service.

It is the policy of the Council that the routines of borrowing and lending are simplified as much as possible consistent with the protection of material. Every effort is made to emphasize speed and to base the service on a spirit of cooperation and trust among participating libraries.

What follows comprise the procedures and standards that have developed gradually and voluntarily in our area—this is what works for us. Changes may be introduced as the need arises.

What may be borrowed

It is recognized that interlibrary borrowing does not relieve any library of the responsibility for developing its own collection. Each library should provide the bulk of materials needed by its users for purposes of study, instruction, information and research.

The borrowing library should make every effort to exhaust its own resources before turning to interlibrary loan. It should also screen requests carefully before transmitting them to the Council, eliminating those which common sense indicates would not be supplied.

The borrowing library is responsible for returning loans promptly and in good condition. The borrowing library should respond quickly to overdue notices and is responsible for paying fees for lost books as levied by the lending library. The library should refuse to request books on interlibrary loan on behalf of borrowers who abuse the privilege.

Placing requests

Our network is part of an hierarchical system. Requests we cannot locate in the region we send to the New York State Interlibrary Loan Network (NYSILL) which searches the State Library in Albany and selected referral libraries in the State. The key to the success of NYSILL is that it is asked only for materials not available locally. The network would break down if the major libraries were asked to supply commonly held materials. Medically oriented requests not found on Long Island are transmitted to the Regional Medical Library interlibrary loan network in Brooklyn.

Public libraries submit their requests through their respective library systems, which process the requests through LILRC, NYSILL, or other channels.

All other libraries in the region should submit their requests to LILRC. Most libraries prefer to have local requests handled centrally, and decline to fill regional requests unless they have been transmitted by the Council. In special circumstances, libraries may arrange to deal directly with each other.

Form of requests

Borrowing libraries may find it helpful to develop worksheets (see samples in Appendix B) to be used by the reader and the librarian in preparing the interlibrary loan request, indicating all the items we need to know.

Requests may be submitted on LILRC interlibrary loan forms which we supply, and sent in by mail or by our driver. They may be placed by teletype, using a format based on the LILRC request form. Urgent requests may be placed by telephone.

We ask that you fill out the form as completely and as accurately as possible, including author's full first name. Supply all the information you have been able to elicit from your patron, as well as all you have been able to