ABSTRACT
The collection budget at the University of Florida Libraries has been flat the past few years despite the increase in new degree programs offered at the university. With the creation of new academic programs, the ILL borrowing and document delivery units have experienced an increase in ILL requests from both on and off campus. At the University of Florida Libraries, from January 1 to September 14, 2006, the Interlibrary Loan Office received a total of 17,814 borrowing requests, with 7,242 of these requests being for books that are not available in the UF libraries. With the high number of loan requests being submitted by UF patrons and the average cost of $27.83 per transaction, based on the ARL Interlibrary Loan study (Jackson, 1998), would the cost of purchasing a book be cheaper than processing an ILL request if the item was requested more than once? Despite what little literature is available, the trend of purchasing materials requested via ILL rather than submitting an ILL request has emerged. By purchasing ILL requests the patrons contribute in defining the collection. In addition to receiving a purchased book quicker than a traditional ILL request, it is often cheaper to buy than to borrow. Based on this analysis, a proposal was submitted to the University of Florida Libraries administration to create a six-month pilot program with a $15,000 budget allocation for purchasing books that were originally requested via ILL. This pilot project was touted as a “patron-centric” approach to supplement the current collection development program. The proposal also supports 2006–2007 the goals of the George A. Smathers Libraries to:
build and manage library collections in support of academic programs; and provide timely access to requested material.
This pilot program will also foster a collaborative cross-departmental relationship to better serve the research and academic needs of the UF community.