1. The Department of Getting It: A Five Year Update
Ruth Owens, SUNY ESF (VXF)
IDS Project Conference
July 26, 2018

2. The Reality and Dreams of Five Years Ago
Patron Driven Acquisitions Model for books
Shrinking budgets/higher serials costs
Desire to Improve:
Speed of Service
Fulfillment rates
Consistent rationale for decisions
Buying vs. borrowing decision making
Just in time vs. just in case
A purchase almost guarantees one use
Larger collection development considerations and circulation
Streamline decision process by eliminating Director (from the process)
Seamless process for requesting user
Maximize fulfillment rates/Minimize user frustration
Savings in effort and money
Comes down to the philosophy of what you want ILL and public service to be

3. Our ILL Shop 1 Librarian – oversees ILL and Acquisitions
1 Staff Member
2 Work Study Students
Average 4,500-5,000 requests a year
Only one of the librarians duties
Staff member also has various other duties

4. How It Works Users submit a request and we get it for them
Usual ILL workflow to request from other libraries
If the library has the book or article, request goes through Doc Del
Purchased books are routed to Doc Del for completion
Articles are processed in Borrowing through Reprints Desk (previously purchased and routed through Doc Del)
Users are notified through ILLiad when their request is available, whether we purchased it or borrowed it or pulled it from the shelf

5. Tools Used ILLiad GIST Purchase Addon for Amazon
Flags
Routing Rules
GIST Purchase Addon for Amazon
Reprints Desk (within ILLiad)

6. Should We Purchase This Book?
How many times has it been requested?
If more than once, it’s a good candidate for purchase
Does the subject matter match the collection development policy?
Most requests do, but even if an item is out of scope it can be a candidate for purchase if it meets other criteria
How much does it cost?
If the item is under $100, it’s a good candidate for purchase. However, more expensive books have been purchased that meet other criteria.
Consider how much a potential lending library might charge us to borrow the item
How many other libraries own it? Is it new?
If many libraries, particularly in our region, own it it’s probably a good candidate to borrow. Newer items that other libraries haven’t purchased yet are good candidates for purchase. We also want to be conscious of coordinated collection development within our region and consortia.
How quickly can it get here?
If there are several libraries that own the item but it would take a long time to get, the item is a good candidate for purchase
Is this an unfilled borrowing request?
If so, it’s likely a good candidate for purchase

7. Purchased Book Workflow
Borrowing loan request comes in
Purchase from Amazon or other vendor
Route request to “Awaiting Acquisitions Processing” queue in Doc Del
Book arrives and is rush processed
Placed on Hold in ALEPH or checked out if campus delivery
User notified via ILLiad
Updated in ILLiad as ‘Found’
Determine it needs purchased
Make ILL request for other purchase requests

8. Purchased Book Notification

9. Books Purchased Usually purchased from Amazon 2013-2014 2014-2015
Total Books Purchased 5 22 54 43 25
Average Cost per Book
$122.62
$118.01
$91.89
$101.08
$67.47

10. Should We Purchase This Article?
Same questions for books, but also:
Have we exceeded the “Rule of 5” for copyright for recently published articles?
If so, the article is a good candidate for purchase, usually through Reprints Desk
Is the whole issue being requested, or a large portion of it?
This doesn’t happen often, but if so a subscription to the journal may be considered if other criteria are met
Are requests for articles from this journal coming from more than one person?
If so, a subscription to the journal may be considered but the requested article will be obtained one way or the other
How much does a single article cost?
Most articles cost between $25-60 and anything over that may also be purchased on a case by case basis.
Consider whether a potential lending library may charge

11. Purchasing Articles Direct from publisher websites
Saved pdf and routed request through Doc Del
Since 2016 we have used Reprints Desk
Rule of 5 Articles 4 25 22
Total Articles Purchased 27 42 46
Average Cost per Article
$46.53
$28.99
$37.02
$65.67
$91.15

12. Reprints Desk Workflow
Click “Retrieve Order Estimate” in Reprints Desk ribbon
Add ‘Awaiting Reprints Desk Processing’ flag
Type REPRINTS in Lending String and Lender field and select OTH under System ID
Click “Create Order”
Click ‘Request Sent’
Borrowing article request comes in
Determine it needs purchased
If article has hit Rule of 5, it will go in a queue called “Awaiting GetItNow Processing” and we know that we need to purchase it from Reprints Desk
Receive s from Reprints Desk about article order and delivery
Remove flag after double checking that article was “Delivered to Web”

13. Reprints Desk Request

14. Reprints Desk Use Began using it in mid-2016
Requested ~99 articles in the last two years
We discovered that in addition to ordering recent articles, we have had success with getting many of the more obscure and hard to get articles

15. Results

16. Improvements....
Items Borrowed
992
1368
1999
2480
2277
2314
Borrowing Requests Cancelled
245
151
135
177
196
204
Borrowing Fill Rate
79.87%
90.30%
96.24%
93.09%
96.36%
91.90%
Turnaround Time (days)
8.6
4.2
3.4
3.7
3.2
3.06
Doc Del Filled
160 (articles)
470
969
1034
858
1056
5.6
1.3
1.2
1.5
21.07 hours
Items Loaned
978
1161
1225
1154
1245
1077
Lending Requests Cancelled
927
464
501
719
594
491
Lending Fill Rate
51.34%
68.54%
68.94%
61.03%
66.76%
68.08%
Total Number of Transactions
3147
3614
4829
5564
5170
5142
Cancelled requests dramatically decreased and borrowing fill rate increased after implementing purchases and better tracking of doc del
Total number of transactions also significantly increased over four years
The numbers seem to have remaining fairly steady, if not decreasing somewhat...need to consider why this might be – maybe some more training in processing.
Lending turnaround time is currently around 12 hours

17. Observations
We have been able to increase the number of requests filled as well as the fulfillment rate
Turnaround time has improved significantly
Users are often surprised with how quickly we get materials for them or that we are able to get the obscure requests
Process is seamless for users
Users don’t need to figure out if the library has the item and then decide whether to request through ILL or make a purchase request. They just need to submit an ILL request and we’ll get it for them.
Mention link resolver and link to ILL request

18. Adjustments Since 2013 Began using Reprints Desk, as discussed
All purchases are entered in a spreadsheet which helps with analysis later
Staff and students are doing more of the ILL processing
More education on ILL  Research Guide
Book purchasing budget: ~$5,000
Article purchasing budget: ~$2,000

19. Where To Go From Here Further collection analysis
Which subject areas are purchased most?
Continue evaluating journal titles requested and look at trends
Continue working on coordinated collection development efforts
Better purchase rubric as staff take on more ILL responsibilities
Staff and students are doing more of the day to day ILL workflow
Consider even more efficient ways of making the process seamless and quick for users
Alma/Primo & Tipasa....????
Workflow details may change, but we hope to continue the same level of service (if not better!)
Collection development considerations

20. Ruth Owens SUNY ESF (VXF) rmowens@esf.edu
Questions?
Ruth Owens SUNY ESF (VXF)