Interlibrary Loan, or ILL, is a service of Rowan University Libraries that allows students, faculty, emeriti, and staff to request specific books or articles from other libraries. Campbell Library participates with libraries around the world to borrow and lend library materials. Requests are placed through two main electronic systems— EZBorrow for books, and ILLiad for books and articles, which includes Rapid ILL, OCLC and JerseyCat. Throughout the year, Campbell Library’s Access Services department worked tirelessly to process and fulfill borrowing and lending requests.
During the last week of 2022, many libraries were closed for the holiday season, limiting access to library resources. Our Access Services team processed 271 Rapid ILL requests–more than double the volume of a typical week–and continued to successfully provide an essential service.
By the end of the year, Access Services received and processed a total of 2,283 EZBorrow and 2,504 ILLiad borrowing requests.
On the lending end, Access Services fulfilled 1,223 EZBorrow, 5,962 Rapid ILL, 1,909 OCLC, and 347 JerseyCat lending requests– boasting an average response time of five hours, and a fulfillment rate of 84.
Dr. Emily Hyde, Associate Professor of English, who is currently on sabbatical during the 2022-2023 academic year, has been utilizing the library’s Interlibrary Loan to complete her research. Dr. Hyde remarks,
“The ILL staff are magicians—more than once I’ve put in requests for obscure articles in short-lived 1950s British periodicals and had them appear in my inbox the very next day. The support ILL offers to faculty is invaluable, expanding our access to research materials and archival collections and gracefully helping us to track down tricky references.”
Overall, the response time for ILL lending requests went down from four to two days, and the lending period was increased to 12 weeks, so that patrons may have access to their borrowed material closer to the length of a full academic semester.
The number of requests processed and fulfilled throughout this past year demonstrates the required diligence and teamwork of the Access Services team, and is a testament to Rowan University Libraries’ commitment to the continuous access to knowledge and resources, within the university community and across the globe.