The usage of ILLiad and Get It Now at a US medium-sized academic library over a three-year period

Abstract

Purpose As medium-sized academic libraries’ budgets continue to shrink or cannot compete with inflation rates, document delivery options like ILLiad and unmediated Get It Now can play a prominent role in providing content lost due to the inevitable cancellation of serial subscriptions. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of using these two options in a US university. Design/methodology/approach This paper examines the usage of these two services for the three fiscal years following the implementation of Get It Now at Bradley University. Findings Questions addressed are as follows. How have they been used over the three-year time period? Which user status group has been using them, undergraduates, graduate students or faculty members? Which departments on campus have been using them the most? Originality/value This study is the first to look at the usage of Get It Now and ILLiad together over multiple years.