The Lancaster University inter‐library loans management system: a user's view
| Date | 01 February 1994 |
| Published date | 01 February 1994 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb040535 |
| Pages | 44-49 |
| Author | Rob Corp |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
The Lancaster
University inter-library
loans management
system:
a user's view
by Rob Corp, External Loans Library,
BBC Libraries and Archives
BBC Libraries
and
Archives have been using
the
Lancaster ILL System
for four years. This
article describes BBC interloans practices
and
how the automated system has
been
implemented.
The main body
of
the
text
highlights features which have been
particularly valuable
for
BBC
requirements.
Several perceived disadvantages
are
indicated
and
some expected
(or perhaps
hoped for) developments
are
listed.
Brief description
The Lancaster ILL System was designed by Ian
Stuart of Lancaster University and is a menu-
driven, stand-alone management system
specifically designed for inter-library loans by an
inter-library loans librarian. It uses the American
Pick operating system invented by Dick Pick in
1967 — more or less stone age as far as computers
go.
However, it has certain advantages as an
operating system; mainly that a multi-user facility
is part of the package and the system is extremely
fast.
The 'stand-alone' label means that the system is
independent and not connected to any network
although in our case we are able to attach two
'dumb'
terminals to the main PC. We have one
dumb terminal attached and another PC running
Windows which is able to emulate a dumb termi-
nal.
There is also a dedicated printer, a tape
streamer (for security backups) and a modem to
communicate to the outside world.
We went 'live' in June 1990, since which time
there have been a couple of upgrades but no major
changes to the overall system.
It was chosen for its adaptability to our existing
interloans practices and for its versatility. For
example, many functions generate a printout, eg
RENEWALS, the idea being to send a note to the
reader confirming the renewal of a loan. We have
changed the system so that an appropriate letter is
generated to send to the lending library requesting
the renewal. This is one small example. There are
over 30 different letters which have all been edited
to some extent or another. It was possible to do
this with no prior training or experience in com-
puters; I was just interested. The latest instruction
manual gives very clear instructions for
self-
editing, presumably because everybody would
want their own wording for letters at least.
Background to our practice
and the system in use
We receive around
8,000
requests per year from
programme makers, researchers etc, via our inter-
nal Research Libraries. The enquirers start with the
Research Library and if the request cannot be
satisfied by internal resources the request is passed
through to us. There is no personal contact for
initial requests with our users who are spread out
all over the country; the majority however are
based in London.
When the request has arrived the first step is to
decide how best to obtain it from a variety of local
public libraries, special libraries and finally the
British Library Document Supply Centre
(BLDSC). Because of the urgency of most re-
quests, we contact many libraries by telephone.
We are members of LASER, and private and
special libraries too numerous to mention. We are
also able to borrow from government and academ-
ic libraries. For many requests a despatch rider is
sent, with a British Library form if necessary, to
the library concerned, facilitating delivery to the
reader within hours.
The practicalities of use
Having logged onto the computer, the user is
presented with the main menu (see Figure 1)
which has 20 choices of action which are selected
alphabetically or numerically.
Nearly all the main menu choices have sub-menus
which are all clearly labelled and represented in
44 — VINE 95 (June 1994)
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