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Special Issues

Did you realize how much there was to Interlibrary Loan?  When you break it down, it seems so complicated.  Of course, successful ILL is about using common sense and following the protocols.  There are some special things we need to take a look at.  This section will cover Copyright Compliance, patron privacy, and record retention, along with other important topics.

Copyright Compliance

This is important when requesting magazine articles.  A responsible lender won't even send the material, unless the borrowing library has indicated that it has complied with copyright.  When requesting an article, the borrowing library should indicate whether or not it complies with CCG or CCL.  So what are these?

CCG - Complies with Copyright Guidelines

  • Applies to journals, magazines, etc. that have been published within the last five years.
  • Can only have five filled requests from the current five years of a copyrighted title within a single year. This is without paying a copyright fee. You can request more copies, if you pay the fee.

CCL - Complies with Copyright Law

  • Applies to journals, magazines, etc. that are older than five years.
  • For replacement copies, if an item is out of print and cannot be obtained at a reasonable price, an entire work can be copied by the lending library.

Responsibilities of borrowing library with regard to copyright

  • Display copyright warnings
  • Comply with Copyright law when making requests for photocopies
  • Retain records of requests for copies for three years plus the current year

Responsibilities of lending library with regard to copyright

  • Return borrowing library's request if copyright compliance is not indicated
  • Include notice of copyright requests for photocopies

Patron Privacy

A library has a legal responsibility to keep their patrons' requests private.  When you send a request, it is best to not even list the patron.  Use a number, be it a library card number or something else, rather than the person's name.  Some libraries even go so far as to block that information out when retaining the records.  

Record Retention

Like anything involving paperwork, you need to consider how long you're going to keep the records.  Fortunately someone else has already figured this out for you.   So how long should you keep copies of your ILL transactions? Three years plus the current year.  For auditing purposes and because of copyright law, you must keep your records this long. Do not keep copies of your ILL transactions for longer than three years plus the current year. Shred any transactions that have a patron's name on them. We mentioned earlier that a library has a legal responsibility to maintain patron privacy. This is why you should not keep ILL transactions longer than the required amount of time.

Performance Targets for ILL Service

Performance targets are intended to give libraries a way of measuring their Interlibrary Loan program. Think of these targets as a way to evaluate your ILL service.  Every library is responsible for evaluating their ILL program on a regular basis.

Performance Targets for Borrowing Libraries:
  • ILL will be offered as an option to all patrons
  • 95% of all ILL requests will be accurately verified and requested
  • 90% of all specific item requests will be processed and "out the door" within two working days of submission
  • 90% of all patrons using the Interlibrary Loan Service will rate the service as excellent
Performance Targets for Lending Libraries:
  • 80% of all requests will have action* taken upon them within 24 hours of receipt (or by the end of the next business day)
  • The remaining 20% of requests will be acted upon* within 72 hours or three working days
    *Actions will include: shipment of materials, referral of requests to another library, or notification of rejection of request
  • 90% of all materials will be delivered by the fastest method available to the library and will conform to the time limits set by the patron

ILL Reimbursement

Sharing resources is important.  Realizing this, the Montana State Legislature approved the ILL reimbursement program in 1989.  The program started in 1990. ILL reimbursement is available to all types of libraries.  For specifics about eligibility, etc. refer to MCA 22-1-328 External Link.  It's the Montana Code Annotated that specifically addresses ILL reimbursement. For specifics about the program, refer to 10.102.4001 in the "Administrative Rules for Montana State Library."

Your library should have received a publication entitled Montana Library Laws, Rules, and Public Library Standards.  This is the online version of the above publication.  The law and rules are important, so read them!  But we'll give you an idea of what happens with ILL reimbursement.

Sometime in April or May the Interlibrary Loan reimbursement forms will appear on your desk.  Here is what to expect:

  • A form to say how many Interlibrary Loans you have provided and to whom;
  • A sheet to verify/certify that the appropriate staff member has demonstrated competence regarding the application of the standardized Interlibrary Loan protocols;
  • A copy of the Interlibrary Loan reimbursement rules will be sent to your library. The forms must be returned to the Montana State Library by 10 working days after July 1. When the Administrative Assistant mails out the forms, she also puts a notice on Wired-MT and usually in the Big Sky Libraries Newsletter, so if you don't get your forms you can request some directly from her.

As the rules say for auditing purposes, you will need to keep a copy of each Interlibrary Loan transaction for three years plus the current year.  You will be certified to do ILL after taking this class.