1. ILL librarian as Bibliographic
Detective;
dealing with
“difficult” ILL requests
Jan. 26th 2013
SEANG-ILL ‘Peter’ Bae
Columbia University Library

2. What is a “DIFFICULT” ILL request?
Difficult to find an OCLC record.
Difficult to find a lender.
A request from a “difficult” patron.
* Combination of all three above *
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3. What our patrons request?
Books, Journals, E-Books, Book
Chapters, Journal
Articles, Dissertations, Proceedings, P
atents, Newspapers
microfilms, microfiches, micro-
cards, CD, DVD, LP, Cassette
Tapes, Laser
Disks, Ephemeras, Patents, Papers, Re
ports, Archival
Materials, Software, Dataset, Data
Base, Pictures and Sculptures.
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4. In what languages ?
Afroasiatic, Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Aymara, Azerb
aijani, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dut
ch, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Ital
ian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Turkish, Ottoman, Panjabi
, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Romanian, Slove
nian, Spanish, Tahitian, Tibetan, Turkish, Urdu, Yiddish
.
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5. From Where?
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6. Some examples….
Pasquino. Carmina Apposita Pasquillo Anno M. D. Xiij.
[Rome: Étienne Guillery & Ercole Nani, 1513.
Gosden, Chris, and Chantal Knowles. Possessing Culture:
Museums, Anthropology And German New Guinea. Berg
Publishers, 2006.
Hakim, Taufiq al-. Praksa au muskilat al-hukm. [Kairo]:
Maktabat al-Adab, 1980.
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7. Why such demand ?
 New types of researches.
 More Information available through the Internet : i.e. ever-growing
Worldcat, Google and other search engines.
 Because we are good at finding and getting things ; they trust us.
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8. An Illustrative Story
Rahmeo, ZIF,
“A New Caryophyllid Cestode Khawia Grypi ,,,etc ”, J. Iraqi Biol. Soc, 1992
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9. After six month of search, we received the article from Iraq via Australia.
However, the surprise was….
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10. Lessons and Question
 Internet is a growing organism.
 Do not underestimate traditional ways of communication.
 Never underestimate person sitting another side of the network.
But, can we do this for every “difficult” request?
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11. ILL Librarians’ Dilemma
 We do not have staff trained well enough to handle those difficult
requests. No library school teaches ILL.
 We do not have enough time to spend on all those difficult requests.
 All patrons are equal but those with difficult request may need more
attention and will appreciate more our efforts.
 How to use our limited resources effectively to get fast and successful
results?
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12. How to find more time?(1)
 Use every possible time saving tools and automation features
i.e. Direct Request, Worldcat Knowledge base, Purchase on Demand
 Analyze the workflow to see if you can squeeze;
IDS Work Flow Toolkit is a great place to find new ideas.
http:// toolkit.idsproject.org
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13. How to find more time?(II)
Positive Cancellation; “we are cancelling now but …”
 Do not afraid of cancellation. “Cancel” is not a TABU word in ILL.
 Cancelling a request, we can also see how much they need the item.
 If they need, they will contact you with more information.
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14. How to get more skills and knowledge(I)
 Updates on new technology and trends; Twitter, listserv, RSS
 Staff training and ILL wiki to share the information.
 Every difficult request provides a chance to learn.
“Weekly/Monthly Stumper Contest”
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15. How to get more skills and knowledge(II)
Get Help from outside ILL office and outside your institution.
 The Slavic Reference Service - University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign http://www.library.illinois.edu/spx/srs.htm
 East Asian Gateway Service - University of Pittsburgh
http://www.library.pitt.edu/libraries/eal/Gateway-Home.htm
Von Berg, Dana. “Collaborative Approaches to Resolving Difficult ILL Borrowing
Requests: Using a Working Group and a Wiki for Knowledge Sharing.” Journal of
Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserve 20, no. 5 (2010): 337–345.
Bean, Margaret H., and Miriam Rigby. “Interlibrary Loan—Reference Collaboration:
Filling Hard-to-Find Faculty Requests.” Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document
Delivery & Electronic Reserve 21, no. 1–2 (2011): 1–7.
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16. Inside ILL Librarian’s Toolbox
 Citation Verification Check List or Guideline.
 In-house Language Expert list.
 Language tools; Foreign alphabet/number/Library glossary chart.
 ShareILL Wiki ; http://www.shareill.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
 Multilingual Glossary database—New South Wales State Library
http://www2.sl.nsw.gov.au/multicultural/glossary/
, 館際互借, 図書館相互貸
借, Fjernlån, Διαδανεισμοί, Kütüphaneler Arası Ödünç Verme,
 Multilingual Glossary of Terms —ACRL
http://www.ala.org/acrl/aboutacrl/directoryofleadership/sections/is/iswebsite
/projpubs/multilingual
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17. More Help ?
 Extending the human network through your lending service;
“I scratch your back and you will scratch mine.”
 Volunteer ILL Stumper-Solver Group? Monitoring the
questions from colleagues and answer within a limited amount
of time.
 Can we embed some of the tools into the common ILL
management system such as ILLiad or Worldshare Platform?
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18. It is a cliché but still...
Crisis (difficult request) is a chance to
confirm the role of ILL in the library.
--------------------
“You empower us so much, and I think many people take that
empowerment you give to us for granted. Thank you, forever and a
day, for expanding my knowledge.” – from a Happy ILL patron.
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19. Any Question?
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