RSC21

The Access and Resource Sharing Department project team at the University of Florida George A. Smathers Libraries was awarded a grant to create and test the efficiency of a mobile scanning cart to expedite a new scanning workflow for electronic document delivery. This mobile station may be the only scan-beside-the-stacks methodology in US academic libraries. This technology allows a single employee to handle all items to complete the digital conversion of print materials and reduces the risk of coronavirus transfer between library staff members during the COVID-19 pandemic. The presentation will highlight the scan-beside-the-stacks idea, project outcomes, and findings. We hope to start a conversation of capitalizing on the benefit of mobile technology to rethink resource sharing operation and best practice.

With the outbreak of COVID-19 and the consequent lockdown, library services, including ILL, had to be maintained, but of course we faced some severe challenges to do so. Two European libraries, Bocconi University in Milano, Italy, and Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, share their experiences with keeping up the ILL services under different circumstances.

ILL staff from Bocconi University will focus on lending and borrowing statistics, new workflows, copyright policies, and dealing with new interlocutors. They also will share perspectives on the future including digitalization of paper collections projects and best practices, as well as resource sharing and copyright restrictions. ILL staff from Wageningen University & Research will focus on modified workflows while working from home and working with non-ILL staff to manage physical resources. They will also show the increased use of tools for off-campus access to digital content.

In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced ILL librarians across the globe to work from home and rethink how they served their users. Panelists will discuss how ILL professionals from various institutions collaborated on plans and innovations and learned from one another in this unprecedented time. They’ll also discuss how they worked from home, adjusted policies and services, implemented curbside delivery, shifted to electronic resources, and renewed materials in order to meet their users’ needs during the pandemic. Finally, they’ll talk about the value of ILL and how it continues to positively impact learning and research, even during a global pandemic, by sharing stories of gratitude and joy from library users.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, interlibrary loan departments quickly shifted to remote work before transitioning to a model with limited staff on-site while working to support one goal: continuing service to our patrons. Learn about the challenging successes of managing on-site operations remotely and creating new workflows, training both seasoned and new employees, evolving communication practices, and copyright implications. Learn about how changes to technologies and licensing agreements helped provide services and materials to patrons and other libraries during such a challenging time and what this all means for resource sharing going forward.

In response to COVID-19, many of our library access services and collections colleagues powered down print course reserves in an effort to help keep communities safe by limiting exposure to high-use materials. Siena College Library and Princeton University Library both performed a hard reboot using Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) guidelines, tools, and technologies to provide faculty and students with considerably uninterrupted access to materials that had previously been available only in print.

The end result for patrons was a transformation of traditional library reserves to a safer digital environment—from the point of item discovery and request—to the augmented check-in process. This digital expansion provided not only increased safety for our community and a continuation of services, but also served as an opportunity to educate patrons on copyright, ebooks, and digital alternatives. Although the final service to the patron is the same, two libraries have taken different approaches to provide the services. During the session, the presenters will share various aspects of their CDL services including the planning, technology, logistics, user instructions, and future plan.

Join Atlas Systems and OCLC as we look forward into the future of resource sharing solutions. We’ll share our plans to create impactful end-user experiences in line with our "Library on-demand" vision and to optimize delivery to meet library and user preferences with smart fulfillment. You’ll hear about Atlas and OCLC’s commitment to innovating quickly to provide resource sharing services that exceed users’ expectations while leveraging the power of the world’s largest resource sharing network.