Re: videos on ILL

Kristine R. Brancolini (brancoli@indiana.edu)
Tue, 21 Mar 2000 12:33:42 -0800 (PST)

I have a couple of comments on the problems that some people have
mentioned. First, valuable or out-of-print titles. We don't lend them.
We have a designation in our online catalog that says "Campus Use Only,"
used for this purpose. That way our ILL staff can quickly determine
whether or not we will lend a particular tape. Second, heavily-used
titles. We don't lend these either. Our users have first priority and
those titles that are in heavy demand are not sent out. We use the same
"Campus Use Only" designation for them. Third, loss and damage. The
borrowing library has always paid for lost videos. In about 13 years only
four videotapes have not been returned. We use UPS and damage has not
been a problem. Although we have a courier service that delivers books
among the various campuses of Indiana University, we don't use it for
videos. Fourth, being a net lender. We were worried about being
inundated with requests from the smaller campuses of the university, but
it really hasn't happened. We steadily lend about 250 tapes per year.
Definitely not overwhelming. -- Kris

On Tue, 21 Mar 2000, Charles Timberlake wrote:

> We are a county library system and a member of a 5-county consortium. We
> share most materials among the various library jurisdictions, but not
> videos. The policy has been in place longer than I've been here. I think
> it exists, because we would be a net lender to the other libraries and
> because videos would not be available as readily to our own patrons.
> Also, when patrons have returned videos to libraries outside our county,
> sometimes the videos have "disappeared" in transit back to us.
>
> Curiously, two of the jurisdictions also will not lend books-on-tape to
> other libraries, though they do borrow them from other consortium members
> for their own patrons. I'm trying to change that policy now. Next, I
> think we do need to review the video loan policy. Other video collections
> have grown considerably during the past few years, and we do have more
> frequent deliveries of materials throughout the consortium.
>
> Charles Timberlake,
> Kern County Library
> Bakersfield, CA
>

Kristine R. Brancolini, Media and Film Studies
Main Library E170, 1320 E. Tenth Street
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405
Phone: 812.855.3710 | Fax: 812.856.2062 | Email: brancoli@indiana.edu