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Measuring the health of an interlibrary loan system is a crucial but complex undertaking. In an effort to identify staff challenges, recommend software optimizations, and assess our pandemic recovery, the Illume Support Centre recently completed a 5-year analysis of consortial turnaround statistics.
Borrower & Lender statistics for both Public & Post-secondary libraries from 2018 to 2022 were reviewed to determine how quickly patrons receive their requests, and how often requests go unfilled within Illume. These particular benchmarks can be helpful in assessing the overall health of our interlibrary loan system, as well as individual library workflows. Identifying both system and library-specific roadblocks is the first step in reducing staff workload and overcoming any potential service barriers.
Public libraries have rebounded completely post-pandemic on the lender side! In 2019 & 2022, public Lenders shipped approximately 74% of available physical items within 4 days. In 2022, this helped Borrower libraries place 53% of requested items into the hands of their patrons in under 2 weeks. This is only a small decrease from 2019 benchmarks (~56%) and may be related to post-pandemic staffing shortages and postal slowdowns.
Post-secondary libraries also stayed steady with ~95% of both Returnable (loan) and Non-returnable (copy) requests shipped to other Illume member libraries within 4 days. Academic patrons receive their items faster post-pandemic with approximately 82% of requests (mostly journal articles) received within 4 days, compared to pre-pandemic rates of approximately 70%.
The commitment of Illume libraries as great partners, even amongst staffing shortages and other challenges, is likely why Illume continues to see steady lending outcomes. And patrons continually receive upwards of 86% of their Illume-requested items every year.
To request your library-specific 5-year turnaround analysis, please contact the Illume Support Centre. Illume administrators can also view their recent SHAREit turnaround statistics under their Staff Dashboard > Statistics > ILL Statistics > Borrower Days to Receive & Lender Days to Supply reports.
This fall, we will offer group and individual training sessions with information on how existing software optimizations, such as Live Shelf Status Checks, Patron-initiated interlibrary loans, and Borrowing & Lending policies, can improve turnaround times and staff workload. We will also present newly available features such as SIP2, SSO, or NCIP that can take your library to the next level and automate a variety of workflows between SHAREit and your ILS, including patron authentication!
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