Interlibrary Loans

The following information will be based on working with interlibrary loans for over 25 years.

I could go into a lot of detail about the service of interlibrary loaning items, but I will save that for another time. The following information will provide enough of what you need to know in order to retrieve an item from a library within the United States.

A majority of libraries within the United States will provide some type of free interlibrary loan service. A very important and significant part of getting an item for a patron of the Iosco-Arenac District Library system is based on the INTERLIBRARY LOAN. There is no question that the millage that the voters in Arenac and Iosco counties voted for allowed for many services that the libraries within the Iosco-Arenac District Library system provide. Throughout this website, many of those services will be explained. The IADL purchases MANY books, magazines, audiobooks and many other materials. The IADL funds services such as children programs, access to computers, and much more.

Having said all of that, no one library can have everything at that library that people want to be located at that library. The library has to rely on the interlibrary loan of items.

When a person asks me about how long it takes to interlibrary loan an item, I tell them about two weeks. A majority of items come in sooner than two weeks, like seven to ten days, but for some items, it takes longer than two weeks. There are a NUMBER of factors that affect the length of time it takes to interlibrary loan an item and some of those factors are mentioned within the information presented on this page.

The following information will provide a brief description of what I call FOUR levels of interlibrary service that people can use to try to retrieve an item from another library.

The Local Library Level:

The local level is where you can request an item from any of the eight libraries within the Iosco-Arenac District Library (IADL) system. You can ask the staff at your local library if they have the item and if they don't have that item, they can request the item from another library. If you have a library card, you can do the same thing by accessing the IADL's library website at https://www.ioscoarenaclibrary.org/. The main URL for the public access online card library is https://vlc.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/iadl. The best opportunity to retrieve something within days, is if you interlibrary loan the item from within the IADL. There is no guarantee that an item will come within days, BUT IF the item is on the library shelf, AND IF the item is pulled for delivery, AND IF the delivery day is near to the day that the item was requested, AND IF the library staff receiving the item has time to process that item, THEN it is possible that an item takes only days to get to you. This is a good example of some of the many "moving parts" that takes place in order to retreive an item from another library.

This is where it starts to get a little confusing. This paragraph will lead into information on what I call the second level of interlibrary loan which I call the Valley Library Consotrium Level (VLC) of interlibrary loan. When you use the Iosco-Arenac District Library Online Public Access Catalog (online card catalog), you can select on the top, left side of the screen for the computer to search Iosco-Arenac District Libraries (IADL). Use the drop-down arrow next to the word "Everything" to choose Iosco-Arenac District Library. If you do not select the IADL libraries, then you will see results from all the libraries within the Valley Library Consortium which the Iosco-Arenac District Library system belongs to.

When you use the online card catalog to interlibrary loan an item, the computer will ask you to input your library card number and your pin number which, usually, is the last four digits of your phone number. The information has to match what is on the computer system when you signed up for your library card. Also, often the computer will ask you to which library that you want your item to be sent. Usually, a drop down menu appears for you to make the selection.

The Valley Library Consortium (VLC) Level:

The Valley Library Consortium (VLC) is an extremely important partner of all the libraries who have joined the consortium. There is A LOT to say about VLC, but I will try to make this short, but yet, make some sense. Basically, the VLC is the organization that maintains the computer system that allows all of the libraries within the VLC consortium to have an automated card catalog and ALL the many things that the automation will do. The automation and maintenance of the automation is CRITICAL for the operation of the libraries who are part of the Valley Library Consortium. The VLC does much more, but this brief explanation gives some view into what this organization can do.

The VLC has over 25 members including public and college libraries. For a list of the current members of the VLC, please click on https://www.valleylibrary.org/member-libraries/

The MeL Statewide Level:

Michigan electronic Library (MeL) website says it best by saying "The Michigan eLibrary (MeL) is a statewide service of the Library of Michigan, an agency of the Michigan Department of Education. The Library of Michigan works with the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services (MCLS) to provide MeL services.

Mission Statement:

Administered by the Library of Michigan in partnership with Michigan's libraries of all types, the Michigan eLibrary will provide all Michigan residents with free access to online full-text articles, full-text books, digital images, and other valuable research information at any time via the Internet; and provide an easy-to-use interlibrary loan system to allow Michigan residents to borrow books and other library materials for free from participating Michigan libraries."

If you do not find what you want within the IADL/VLC online public access catalog, then you move on to MelCat. This is the online public access card catalog that contains the holdings of hundreds and hundreds of libraries throughout the State of Michigan. The amount of items available through this source is impressive. The MelCat online catalog is a different system than what VLC offers. However, through drop down menus, you are able to choose the item that you want and tell the computer which library within the Iosco-Arenac District Library system that you want the item sent to. You will need to be ready to put in your name, library card number, choose Iosco-Arenac District Library, and then pick which branch of the Iosco-Arenac District Library system that you want the item to be sent to.

The Worldcat/OCLC United States Level:

There is A LOT that I could say about OCLC. I know that I say that a lot on this website about saying a lot, BUT that is REALLY true about OCLC. Once again, though, I will try to keep it simple.

The Ohio Library College Center was created around 1967 by college and library administrators within the State of Ohio. It was the beginning of a very large and sophisticated online computerized card catalog. That is putting it very mildly, but it gives you a picture of what Worldcat is about. OCLC came to stand for different words such as Online Computer Library Center. Within the pass ten years, OCLC developed a more friendly, public access computer program called WorldCat. Worldcat allows a person to view the library holdings of MANY libraries throughout the United States of America. It is an online card catalog to the online card catalogs of MANY, MANY libraries within the United States.

Okay, BEFORE you get too excited, I need to go into more detail of the limitations of trying to interlibrary loan materials from OCLC/Worldcat.

OCLC developed the computer code that was responsible for allowing people to see the information about an item/book on the computer screen of an online card catalog like what we see at our local libraries. OCLC became a standard way for libraries throughout the United States and parts of the world to create standardized records for books and communicate with each other regarding library materials. It became a science. There is a science that is practiced among most libraries that gets something like a book from being published to be put on a shelf in some library. OCLC created a type of network with rules and policies that allowed libraries throughout the world to communicate and cooperate with each other in order to bring information to people.

OCLC created a sophisticated interlibrary loan computer program that allows members who subscribe to their service to interlibrary loan items from member institutions within the United States. Books, journal articles, CDs, DVDs, and more is possible to be interlibrary loaned through OCLC IF the item is at an institution participating with OCLC.

The financial cost runs into the THOUSANDS of dollars for an organization to maintain a subscription to OCLC. Colleges and Universities are the most noticeable and typical organizations participating with OCLC. These organizations have special members on the staff who catalog the items for their libraries according to OCLC's rules and coding policies.

When at Delta College, I participated in the interlibrary loan process using OCLC, as well as some of the other catalogs mentioned on this page. It was amazing at what we could interlibrary loan.

I could go on and on about OCLC, but here are the advantages and disadvantages of what members of the communities of the Iosco-Arenac District Library system can do.

The Iosco-Arenac District Library Headquarters has been a member of an organization called the White Pine Cooperative for a very long time. Where belonging to the VLC offers benefits such as maintaining the online card catalog, White Pine Cooperative provides other valuable benefits such as the use of OCLC for interlibrary loans. Every branch in the Iosco-Arenac District Library (IADL) system has a form to fill out to send to Headquarters for any item that the patron wants to try to retrieve from a library that can be found on WorldCat. The White Pine Cooperative organization pays a lot of money in order to belong to OCLC. IADL Headquarters receives a form of information from the branch library. A knowledgeable member of the Headquarter's staff fills out an online form that is sent to White Pine Cooperative. Staff at the White Pine Cooperative searches the staff mode of the OCLC interlibrary loan system in order to find libraries within the United States that will send the requested item for free.

The interlibrary loan process has rules. Whether the rules come from copyright law, OCLC, individual institutions participating in OCLC, or individual library policies, there are rules.

At Delta College, I think that I can safely say that most of what we were asked to interlibrary loan did come in. Whether we used the VLC online catalog, MelCat, or OCLC, most of what we interlibrary loaned came it. There were reasons why this worked well at Delta College.

There are some materials that some libraries will not interlibrary loan. For some reason, they are considered too important to interlibrary loan. An example of this is some type of Reference book.

When searching in the staff mode of OCLC, the staff mode would show the number of libraries that had the item that was being requested. After years of participating with interlibrary loans, I got a feeling of which items, probably, would be sent and those requests that may go unfilled. It seemed that if NOT many libraries had the item being requested, then it was questionable if one of those libraries would send the item. However, IT WAS WORTH TRYING to get a library to send an item. Sometimes, one of a small group of libraries would send the item. However, the strategy of supply and demand seemed to be important. If there was a big supply of a specific item to choose from, then it was very possible that the item would be sent by one of the many libraries that had the item.

Some libraries on OCLC will charge money for interlibrary loaning their items. At Delta College, it was very important for students to find scholarly materials. It was important for some members of the faculty, who had master's degrees who wanted to continue their education to obtain a Ph.D, be able to interlibrary loan scholarly and maybe hard-to-find sources of information. At Delta College, it was within the budget to pay up to twenty-five dollars for an item if the lending institution charged for their interlibrary loans. It is questionable if White Pine Cooperative will pay to interlibrary loan an item. The good news is that A LOT of institutions will NOT charge to interlibrary loan their items. Many libraries will interlibrary loan items, FOR FREE.

Another reason why some periodical articles were unfilled was due to copyright issues. According to the rules, a library can interlibrary no more than FIVE articles from the same magazine in one year. This applies to articles published five years prior to the date of the interlibrary loan request.

WorldCat: You are welcome to search the public edition of WorldCat. Something kind of new is that Worldcat wants you to enter your zip code into a box, often after your search, in order to see the list of libraries that have the item that you want. Once the page accepts your zip code, then you will see a list of libraries throughout the United States that have the item that you want interlibrary loaned.

Some More Of My Interlibrary Loan Thoughts

I know through the years that a significant amount of the population within Arenac and Iosco Counties use their local libraries in some way. However, I know that there is a large group of people who do not use libraries, or at least, until they absolutely have to use their services.

When it comes to finding and retrieving information, NOT EVERYTHING IS AVAILABLE on the Internet. I will add one more thing, NOT EVERYTHING IS AVAILABLE on the Internet, FOR FREE.

The Iosco-Arenac District Library states on their web page that libraries are more than just books. I will never forget two examples of that statement when I worked for the IADL about twenty years ago. Interlibrary loan proved to be one of a number of valuable services that is provided by the Iosco-Arenac District Library system.

Interlibrary loan is not just about interlibrary loaning books about hot romances, intriguing mysteries, children's books that inspire children to learn and imagine interesting adventures, cookbooks, and items for finding genealogy information about love ones. Sure, it IS ALL of that, BUT it is much more, as I will share information about two people whom I will not forget. It has been about twenty years and I am not as clear as I once was about the details, but this is how I remember these meetings with two people.

I was working at the Robert J. Parks Library one or two days a week at the Reference Desk. One patron was looking for information about a very expensive medicine that was mentioned to him from a doctor. The patron sounded like he was willing to try anything, but the medicine was very expensive. I think that the medicine was an experimental type of drug. He wanted information that could be found in something like a "clinical trial." He wanted to know if the drug had met with some success. He wanted to know if paying the amount of money for the drug would be worth it. This type of information was something that was what OCLC/Worldcat was for. This is the type of information found in expensive peer-reviewed, scholarly, medical journals found in some university library, and NOT found for free on the Web. Through the use of the IADL's connection to the White Pine Cooperative, some information that the patron found useful was able to be interlibrary loaned to him. It made a difference.

Another patron was facing a decision on whether to go ahead with what sounded to be a specific type of risky heart surgery. My first impression about hearing "heart surgery" is that just about ANY heart surgery may be risky. However, after listening to this specific patron, she had a choice on whether to go with the surgery or take her chances without the surgery. As I mentioned above, this information was going to be found in a very special, scholarly, medical journal. OCLC was the way to go for finding this type of information and having the articles mailed to the Iosco-Arenac District Library system to be delivered to the local branch library. If I remember correctly, the patron told someone to tell me that she looked at the information and decided to have the operation. I want to believe that the information made a difference.