1 Dudley Emmert Director, Business Partnerships Purchasing Books through Interlibrary Loan: A New Approach Northwest Interlibrary Loan and Resource Sharing Conference September 17 th, 2004

2 Overview What are we talking about? Why it makes sense The Alibris approach Next steps – what to explore… (About Alibris & the Library Services team)

3 What are we talking about? Several ways to describe the purchase of books through Interlibrary Loan… Buy/Borrow Books on Demand Just-in-Time Acquisitions Patron-driven Acquisitions Point-of-Need Acquisitions Collaborative Collection Development

4 Patrons love it In academic & research libraries, patrons clearly value the service –Purdue: ~95% said book very or moderately useful for the library collection In public libraries, the circulation statistics say it all... –Thomas Crane PL: 97% subsequently circulated, avg 9 times per item –34% circulated >10 times Allen, M., S.M. Ward, T. Wray and K. E. Debus- López. (2003). “Patron-focused services in three US libraries: collaborative interlibrary loan, collection development and acquisitions”, Interlending & Document Supply, v.31, no. 2,

5 The books circulate… a lot… ILL-triggered book purchases apparently circulate more than ‘firm order’ purchases: Ward, S. M., T. Wray and K. E. Debus- López. (2003). “Collection Development Based on Patron Requests: Collaboration between Interlibrary Loan and Acquisitions”, Library Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical Services, v.27, no. 2,

6 Cost & turn-around time appear balanced Thomas Crane Public Library –Average cost $17.00 –Purchased largely from library vendors –14 days average turn-around time (9 days for traditional loans) Purdue University –Average cost $38.00 –Purchased largely from online sources (primarily Amazon.com) –Average turn-around time of 8 days (same as traditional loans) Ward, S. M., M. Allen. (2004). “Buy on Demand: ILL Meets Collection Development”, Presented at NELINET Annual Resource Sharing Meeting, Worcester, MA. June 14,

7 Model: Purdue University Libraries 13 libraries, 2.7m volumes / 28,000 borrowing requests filled in 2002 Guidelines:  Scholarly work published (in English) in the last 5 years  Prefer paperback edition / Delivery within a week  Maximum cost $50 (subsequently increased to $100 and then to $150) Workflow:  ILL office searches online booksellers to determine availability (price & time)  ILL office assigns home library, enters record into local ILL management software, and relays info to Acquisitions department.  Acquisitions department places the order with online bookseller and creates “on order” record in local OPAC  ILL office receives the book directly, adds property stamp, and lends the book to the patron.  When returned, the book is passed to Cataloging and added to the collection Funding & Purchasing  Special allocation from non-recurring funds (through 4/04)  Purchase made with Acquisitions credit card Results:  Average cost of $37.92 / 8-day turnaround time / 62% of titles subsequently circulate

8 Model: University of Wisconsin Libraries 40 libraries, 7 ILL offices / 45,000 borrowing requests filled in 2002 Guidelines:  Appropriate subject areas (excludes law, medicine, practical education materials, etc.)  Published in current year plus three previous years / monographs or proceedings only  5 potential lenders exhausted / Maximum cost $250 Workflow:  ILL office submits request to acquisitions department for “rush” processing and makes note in Clio ILL  Acquisitions department determines best provider based on cost / speed of delivery (often Amazon.com or BN.com) & places order  Cataloging department “rush” catalogs book upon receipt  Circulation department contacts patron Funding & Purchasing  ILL fund (managed through the acquisitions module of UW ILS system)  Purchase made with Acquisitions credit card Results:  Average cost of $37.00 / 8-day turnaround time / 73% of titles subsequently circulate

9 Model: Thomas Crane Public Library Regional ILL processing center / 7,000 borrowing requests filled in 2002 Guidelines:  no potential lender or all potential lenders exhausted  item too new to borrow  multiple requests for same item Workflow:  ILL librarian makes the decision to purchase  Order clerk determines fastest / cheapest way to get the book (library vendors or online)  Once received, the book is neither cataloged nor processed before circulating to the ILL patron  When returned, the book is passed to Acquisitions Funding & Purchasing  Regional ILL budget -- which includes funds earmarked for collection development  Purchase made via vendor account Results:  Average cost of $17.00 / 14-day turnaround time / 98% added to collection / avg. 9 subsequent circulations per item

10 The Alibris approach Alibris will utilize the OCLC ILL network and transaction management processes (IFM) to provide interlibrary loan librarians & staff the ability to purchase books directly from Alibris. OCLC Symbol = ALBRS

11 Value proposition Buy books just like you borrow them -- through the OCLC ILL system. Pay for books through IFM. Inventory of 40 million – including new & out-of- print books. Usually delivered in 7-10 days.

12 Timeframe Pilot during Fall 2004 Analyze, adjust, and expand pilot as appropriate Design & deploy a fully automated system available to all OCLC ILL users by Spring 2005

13 Alibris OCLC policy statement Fees: Price per item by item basis Delivery: Media mail Billing: OCLC IFM Period: N/A Request methods accepted: Unverified OCLC ILL requests accepted. Alibris holdings not attached to records. Notes: If exact isbn or edition required, include in borrower's notes. Otherwise, Alibris matches on title/author. If price exceeds max cost, Alibris will conditional. Contacts: Alibris for Libraries th St. Ste. 100 Emeryville, CA option 1

14 Pilot: California State University / Monterey Bay New CSU campus (est. 1994) / 5,000 borrowing requests filled in 2003 Guidelines:  not available in CSU system or from other (free) lenders  item too new to borrow  multiple requests for same item Workflow:  ILL librarian will identify requests that are appropriate for purchase  Enter Alibris code (ALBRS) into OCLC lender string  Once received, the book is neither cataloged nor processed before circulating to the ILL patron (but may add ‘on order’ record in the OPAC)  When returned, the book is passed to Acquisitions (subject bibliographer then decides whether or not to add the book to the collection…) Funding & Purchasing:  ILL / IFM dollars  Purchase through OCLC IFM

15 Workflow

16 Next steps – what to explore… Implications for library collection development & acquisitions departments »Policy »Operations Circulation of ILL-generated purchases vs. firm-ordered (and other) purchases »% non-circulating »Average circulation per item Operational impact for library ILL departments »Staffing & staff training »Workflow integration »Library patron satisfaction Recognizing that different libraries have different missions, we need to learn more about the following…

17 Deep Market Intelligence Specialized Logistics Alibris business model Booksellers Independent Booksellers Wholesalers Small Publishers Owned Books Consigned Books Selected Purchases Broad Selection Broad Selection Business Customers Online Retailers Traditional Stores Wholesalers, others Retail Customers Alibris Website Library Services Diverse Sales Channels Diverse Sales Channels Suppliers Customers  Alibris has over 6,000 Academic, Public, K-12, and Special library customers  Alibris has over 300 international library customers

18 Strong, diverse library & business partner base

19 Alibris sales by major BASIC category

20 Alibris library services team Bill Kane / Regional Sales Manager, Eastern U.S. –Toll free: ; Shelly Stuard, Director, Library Services/Acting RSM Western U.S. –Toll free: ; Abbie Fenneman, Library Services Representative –Toll-free ALIBRIS;

21 project team Dudley Emmert / Director, Business Partnerships (Alibris) – ; Aric Rubin / Director, Product Development (Alibris) – ; Rebecca Bergeon / Manager, Document Delivery & ILL (California State University / Monterey Bay) – ; Tom Delaney / Head, Interlibrary Loan (Columbia University) – ;