Courtesy of The Mossy Log Archives
Lewis & Clark’s Watzek Library has switched to a new system for requesting articles and books from other libraries, a change Watzek Library Director Mark Dahl said has made digital requests faster and easier to track.
Be it extensive research projects or pursuits of personal interest, interlibrary loaning is an integral part of LC’s academic community. For many semesters, journals, articles and book chapters have been available through the network facilitated by Watzek Library’s Primo, the library’s search engine. If the source a student needs is unavailable or difficult to find, the library offers interlibrary loans — checking out material from other libraries.
Through an academic network known as Summit, a Northwest academic library consortium, most loans of physical books are sourced from libraries across the region. And digitally, the school refers to a larger network of material through the given integrated library system. With both library systems, students are able to request any article located on Primo, online or on a different database.
For materials that are not as easily accessible, Dahl told students not to worry. “As a student, don’t worry about what other libraries we’re getting it from. You just have to tell us what you need, and we’ll go out and get it for you if at all possible,”
The previous network used for accessing loaned materials through other libraries was the Online Compute Library Center (OCLC). As a global network, it includes millions of volumes from hundreds of academic libraries. If a source was inaccessible through Primo or Summit, OCLC would be the network referred to. Although this network is international, Dahl notes it is loosely coupled together and not the most efficient.
“Some libraries on the network wouldn’t necessarily supply us with materials, or they charge us for materials,” Dahl said.
The undergoing change in networking at Watzek involves an improved software platform. Instead of digitally outsourcing to OCLC libraries, Watzek’s Summit and Primo networks have expanded into the Rapido library system. Students may not see the change, but the system now integrates interlibrary loan requests with the Primo interface. Requests and deliveries both go through Primo, Dahl said, so students can see everything in one place.
“You can keep track of books you’ve checked out and interlibrary loans you’ve received, all on Primo,” he said.
The more integrated system, according to Dahl, is faster and more efficient at retrieving digital requests.
“We’ve seen faster turnaround times for materials … So especially for articles, people can get those within a matter of just an hour or two of requesting them,” Dahl said.
In some areas, Rapido and OCLC resources overlap. Although the new system is not as large as the previous one, Dahl says it delivers journal articles “just as effectively and from as large of a pool as we had before.
With books, there is a smaller pool. I don’t think most students will notice that, but that’s why we’re here,” he said.
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