Interlibrary Loan in the United States: An Analysis of Academic Libraries in a Digital Age

Abstract

The primary focus of this study was to determine the effect of digitally held full-text articles on interlibrary loan (ILL) rates in American academic libraries. A second focus was an examination of how the size of print journals and monograph collections affect ILL activity. Finally, the study looks, in a preliminary fashion, for any effects on ILL rates due to the presence of an MLS-holding librarian as head of the interlibrary loan department. The study investigated American academic libraries and gathered ILL statistics for the period from 1997-2008. It was found that there was a general increase in ILL activity since the 1990s, with an increase in ILL non-fulfillment during the period. There was a strong correlation between print journal and monograph collection size versus ILL activity. There was positive correlation between the presence of databases and ILL activity. The presence of a link resolver was also correlated with increased ILL activity. Finally, the study found there was no overall reduction in ILL department personnel in the last 5 years and that the presence of a professional librarian as head of the department was also positively correlated with ILL activity.

An Analysis of Direct Reciprocal Borrowing Among Québec University Libraries

“…Both of these correlations make intuitive sense; for example, the larger an institution's physical library collection size, the more likely they are to do direct reciprocal lending. Again, this correlation has been found in other studies (Costello & Duffy, 1990;Paustian, 1981;Williams & Woolwine, 2011). The correlation between library collection size and amount of DRL could also be driving the correlation between number of FTE students and amount of DRL, as larger institutions are likely to have larger library collections, which results in more lending.…”

“…The correlation of 0.637 (p < .01, N = 18), which was seen between library collection size and amount of DRB, is more counterintuitive, however, because one would assume that users at libraries with large collections would not need to do as much DRB from other libraries. However, this type of positive correlation has also been seen for ILL borrowing in other studies (Costello & Duffy, 1990;Duy & Larivière, in press;Paustian, 1981;Williams & Woolwine, 2011).…”

“…Interestingly, the measure of collection size per FTE does not appear to have a consistent effect on net borrower or lender status for either DRB or ILL. Indeed, other studies have shown that users at libraries with larger collections actually do more ILL borrowing than those at institutions with smaller library collections (Costello & Duffy, 1990;Duy & Larivière, in press;Paustian, 1981;Williams & Woolwine, 2011). Unfortunately, no data were available on the status of DRB users compared to ILL users for CREPUQ, and little has been written on which user groups make use of DRB compared to other resource-sharing services.…”

Herding Cats: Challenges in Interlibrary Loan Lending of E-Journal Articles

“…McGrath's (2011) recent review of the literature did not include any articles related to lending. Williams and Woolwine (2011) examined, in part, both the effect of increased discovery through Web scale services for users and of link resolvers on borrowing. Nabe and Fowler (2012) noted that leaving "big deal" e-journal packages did not adversely affect borrowing.…”

Relationships between Interlibrary Loan and Research Activity in Canada

“…For example, one of the most recent studies to examine this issue was one that assessed 442 American academic libraries from 1997 to 2008 and found that the size of print monographic and journal collections showed significant positive correlations with the number of ILL borrowing requests filled. 4 An older study of 166 academic libraries in New York State during 1987-1988 also found that the total number of volumes held by a library was positively correlated with the amount of ILL borrowing activity. 5 The number of serial subscriptions, however, was found to be more weakly correlated with the number of ILL borrowing requests.…”