Transforming Resource Sharing Services at an Australian Academic Library: The Case of the University of Wollongong

Abstract

In 2011 the University of Wollongong Library undertook a significant review of its Resource Sharing services. This was prompted by constraints in the systems supporting this service, changes to the Library's key suppliers, Infotrieve Australia and the British Library Document Supply Service, and the need to deliver effective library services within a defined physical and budgetary environment. As a result of the review, the existing Millennium Interlibrary Loan and Ariel software hosting the service were replaced by the Relais ILL system. The most cost-effective and relevant methods for supporting the research needs of the university were achieved through subscriptions with networks characterized by strong unmediated requesting functionalities, including ArticleReach, BONUS+, and RapidILL. To expand the Library's access to international collections, a subscription to OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing was begun. UOW Library now processes approximately 50% more requests, 76% of which are now processed to some degree without library staff mediation.

Developing responsive Resource Sharing services at an Australian regional university: University of Wollongong Library

“…As a result of the review of resource sharing services at UOW, by 2013 76% of requests were unmediated (Daly, Baker & McIntosh, 2014). At the time of writing, 83% of UOW requests are unmediated (Table 5).…”

“…The outcomes of the service transformation were: the creation of a new team, the adoption of a new system, new services and a new set of subscriptions and consortia involvements (Daly, Baker & McIntosh 2014). The Resource Sharing team was formed in early 2012 and delivered all resource sharing and document delivery services, as well as ereserves (Ereadings) services.…”

Interlending and document supply: a review of the recent literature: No 87

“…The volume of requests that the Library can service has risen by almost 50 per cent, from 10,158 in 2010 to 14,810 in 2013; 76 per cent (11,229) of these client requests are now being provided via unmediated services (Table 1). This has been achieved without increasing the annual budget commitment to resource sharing -a well written article and very well worth reading (Daly, 2014).…”