[12054] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Electronic delivery ILL
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Harry M. Kriz)
Thu Mar 5 20:36:01 1998
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 16:40:17 -0600
From: "Harry M. Kriz" <Harry_M_Kriz@vt.edu>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
The Virginia Tech Interlibrary Loan Department began electronic delivery of
selected photocopied articles on July 4, 1997. Those ILL customers who have
chosen to take advantage of this service are now receiving 47% of their
photocopies in electronic format.
__________________________________
HOW DOES ELECTRONIC DELIVERY WORK?
Customers may state their preference for electronic delivery when they
register for ILL service through ILLiad, Virginia Tech's automated ILL
borrowing system. (The public face of ILLiad can be seen at
http://www.ill.vt.edu/.)
For those customers who prefer electronic delivery, we deliver articles
electronically when the lending library sends those articles to us via
ARIEL.
When we receive the article via ARIEL, we convert it to Adobe's Portable
Document Format and post the file to the customer's account. ILLiad sends
an automated e-mail to the customer notifying him that the article is
available. Using his Web browser, the customer logs on to ILLiad and
downloads the file.
________________________________
WHO PREFERS ELECTRONIC DELIVERY?
The ILLiad customer base as of 3/4/98 consists of:
650 faculty (a number equal to 46% of full-time instructional
faculty and 25% of total full-time faculty)
1638 graduate students (a number equal to 39% of full-time,
on-campus graduate enrollment and
26% of total graduate students
counting on-campus, off-campus, full-time
and part-time)
192 staff (about 6% of support staff)
529 undergraduates (2.5% of undergraduates)
(Up-to-the-minute customer profiles are
available on the ILLiad Reports page at
http://www.ill.vt.edu/ILLiadReports/)
23% of all customers are registered for electronic delivery. This
percentage is essentially constant across customer status, although 25% of
undergraduates chose the electronic delivery option compared to only 22% of
graduate students.
34% of all customers who either registered for service after July 2, 1997,
or who changed their registration information after that date, have
selected electronic delivery. Note that 2/3 of all customers either
registered or changed their registration information after July 2.
One-third of all customers registered before electronic delivery was
availalble, and they have not updated their preferences since they registered.
_________________________________
WHAT DID WE DELIVER TO CUSTOMERS?
For the two months January 1 - February 28,1998
Total articles delivered
to all customers: 2,674
Articles delivered to customers
who prefer electronic delivery: 767
Articles delivered electronically: 362
(14% of all articles)
(47% of all articles delivered to customers
who prefer electronic delivery)
We deliver articles electronically only when the supplying library delivers
the photocopy to Virginia Tech via ARIEL. During January and February 1998,
customers who requested electronic delivery received 47% of their articles
electronically. Still, due to the relatively small fraction of customers
requesting electronic delivery, only 14% of all articles were delivered
electronically.
In February 1998, we delivered 217 articles in electronic format. These
varied in size from about 130 KB to nearly 6 MB. Average file size has been
about 900,000 bytes, with a median size of about 735,000 bytes. The 130 KB
file contained a one page photocopied article plus the copyright statement
that we insert at the beginning of each delivered article. The 6 MB file
contained a 35 page technical report.
_______________________________________
HOW DO WE PROMOTE ELECTRONIC DELIVERY?
We have not actively promoted the electronic delivery option, preferring to
let awareness of the service develop gradually. This allowed us to perfect
our internal procedures for handling the documents. It also provided time
to build a base of satisified customers who are willing to recommend
electronic delivery to their colleagues.
Interlibrary loan customers are made aware of electronic delivery by three
methods:
1.) The ILL home page at http://www.ill.vt.edu/ has a short announcement
about the service, along with some statistics about the use of the service.
These statistics are generated from the ILL database each time a person
accesses the ILL home page.
2.) Customers are asked by ILLiad if they want articles delivered
electronically when they first register for ILL service. The default choice
is No.
3.) Customers hear about electronic delivery from their colleagues who have
used the service.
__________________________________
WHO IS SATISFIED WITH THE SERVICE?
Almost everyone we talk to who has chosen electronic delivery is delighted
with the service. Articles can be in the customer's hands at home or in an
office within minutes of the ARIEL file being received in the Interlibrary
Loan Department. Delivery time can be reduced by several days now that
articles do not spend time in campus mail. Articles received in the ILL
Department later on Friday afternoons no longer languish in the library
mail room until Monday morning.
______________________________________
WHO IS NOT SATISFIED WITH THE SERVICE?
A small number of customers have told us they have had problems installing
Adobe Acrobat Reader on their computers. A few have had printing problems
with Acrobat Reader. Sometimes our advice can overcome the difficulties. In
a few cases, customers with older computers with limited RAM have told us
they reluctantly would forego the convenience and speed of electronic
delivery until they can resolve their computer problems. Such customers are
not so much dissatisfied with the service as they are disappointed that
they cannot take advantage of the service.
____________
WHAT'S NEXT?
We will promote the electronic delivery option more actively now that the
concept and procedures have been tested and proven. Handling documents
electronically is much simpler and much less expensive for the library. For
the customer, especially regular customers who will borrow continuously
over a period of months, electronic delivery has obvious benefits.
We encourage all libraries from whom we obtain photocopies to deliver the
photocopies to us via ARIEL.
--Harry M. Kriz
Head, ILL Department
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Harry_M_Kriz@vt.edu 540-231-7052 FAX: 540-231-3694
http://learning.lib.vt.edu/authors/hmkriz.html
University Libraries
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech)
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0434 USA
"What joy to awake every morning in a world so filled with things to learn."
- H. M. Kriz (1994)
