ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 704 / C& RL News D ocum ent Delivery Service B y D a v id A. B a ld w in Associate Director fo r Public Services University o f W yo m in g a n d P a u l D . D ic k e y D o c u m en t Delivery Clerk University o f W yo m in g Enhancing fa cu lty research w ith same-day book and article delivery. W h y document delivery?* The harried professor drew a large red circle a r o u n d t h e c i t a t i o n . R ig h t on th e m a r k , he thought. A colleague in Virginia had published the article, one very closely related to his own work. He looked at his w a t c h . An advisee was due in three minutes, his class in eighteen minutes, and no time to go to the library. Calmly, Professor Smith picked up his phone and called the D ocum ent Delivery phone num ber. At the tone, because Paul was m ak ­ ing prints from microfiche on another floor, Smith read his citation, gave his nam e and departm ent, and hung up. The advisee rap p ed on his door. T urning off the microfiche reader/printer, Paul w ent back to his desk. After transcribing his phone messages and picking up more requests in the office mail, Paul set about organizing his day’s work. First he w ent to the online catalog and LINX (auto­ m ated serials control system) for his m onograph and serial call num bers—the easy ones first. They would be dealt with quickly. For other requests, c o n ta in in g in co m p le te cita tio n s, the detectiv e work began. Because Paul has had experience in * “ Docum ent delivery” m ay be defined in sev ways. It is used to describe how Interlibrary Loan provides materials to users. It is often associated w ith th e delivery of d o c u m e n ts electronically. “D ocum ent delivery” is also used to describe a ser­ vice designed to place materials in users’ hands w ithout requiring th at they visit the library. “Doc­ um ent delivery” in this article refers to the latter definition. searching a wide range of bibliographic tools, as well as the University Libraries’ collection, he is an unusually successful sleuth. If there are errors in ci­ tations, such as incorrect journal title abbrevia­ tions, he checks Periodical Title Abbreviations, or Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory may be consulted to verify the existence of a cited jour­ nal. If there are book titles to locate, he checks the National Union Catalog to verify bibliographic in­ fo rm a tio n . Requests for items not fo u n d to be owned by the UW Libraries are returned to the fac­ ulty members who may request th at items be ob­ tained through ILL. Back at the desk he finds more requests. Three requests were referred to D ocum ent Delivery from Interlibrary Loan. The requests were for materials already owned by UW Libraries and located by IL L staff. The items had not been found by the re­ questors and delivering these surprises is often very interesting. Faculty members are appreciative but sometimes sheepish because they typically resign themselves to a two or three week w ait for IL L re­ quests. They recognize the value of persons who re­ ally know how to search out citations. l Paul takes the retrieved m aterial and checks it out on the requesting faculty m em b er’s card. D u ­ plicate lib rary cards for some faculty m em bers (those who have given w ritten permission) are held by the D ocum ent Delivery staff, but no circulation policies are circumvented by the service. Periodical articles are found and photocopied and Paul loads his backpack and heads for the Science Library, era December 1986 / 705 th en the Geology L ib ra ry , a n d sometimes th Rocky M ountain Herbarium. Articles and book from the William Robertson Coe Library (Docu ment Delivery headquarters) are delivered to de partm ental offices on the way or, if out of the way held for delivery later in the day. Materials are re trieved at the Science Library, checked out or pho tocopied and it’s time to deliver again. Material are even delivered to offices in the same building as the Science and Geology Libraries or by van t several sites which are 3–4 miles from campus Generally, all requests received by noon are deliv ered the same day. There are no restrictions on th num ber of items requested, although delivery o longer lists is delayed by a day or two. W hen the round of deliveries is completed, it’ time to record the requests on the microcomputer Records are kept with PFS:File and PFS: Repor and printouts are prepared for monthly reports Num ber of books loaned, articles and pages copied faculty served by d e p artm e n t, and tu rn a ro u n time are recorded. The data collected is useful i analyzing use and evaluating the service. Request are received daily by phone, delivered in person b facu lty m em bers, or received th ro u g h cam pu m ail— and the service is provided completely w ith out charge to faculty or departments. How is it funded? Entirely by indirect cost fund allocated by the University’s Research and G ra d u ate Studies Office. Staffing is provided by one full tim e sta ff m e m b e r a n d some p a r t - t i m e hour worked by a skilled ILL employee. Finished with three advisees, a class, a lab, and co m m ittee m eeting, the tired Professor Smit checks his mailbox. There, along with a larger tha e s ­ ­ , ­ ­ s s o . ­ e f Ray Baweja (left) of the University of W y o m in g ’s Pharmacy D epartm ent and co-author Paul D. Dickey (right) discuss the importance of the D ocum ent Delivery Service to Dr. Baw eja’s cancer research. (Credit: Joe Locurto) s . t . , d n s y s ­ s ­ ­ s a h n usual assortment of notices and m em oranda, is the article by a colleague in Virginia whose work is po­ tentially the missing piece to years of research. The article had been tracked down (one of the easy ones), photocopied, and delivered while Smith was busy with other matters. Is Document Delivery useful? Ask Dr. Smith and a large num ber of his colleagues on campus at the University of Wyoming. Is it used? D uring the first four months of operation, faculty in twenty-nine departments received 2,814 articles (13,769 pages) and 71 books. The Service, in its pilot stage, was announced to a limited num ber of departments in order for the Libraries to work out the bugs. Word-of-mouth has extended knowledge of the service to more fac­ ulty and a major publicity campaign took place this autum n. It is expected that more faculty will take advantage of the service. Faculty members are still encouraged to come to the Libraries but, as Dr. Smith can attest, Document Delivery hits the spot. The Service was first considered by the Libraries during the summer of 1985. After lengthy discus­ sions in the Libraries and on campus about the im ­ portance of the libraries to research, a convincing argum ent was made for the Libraries to receive in­ direct cost funds generated by research grants. Be­ cause of the impact on collections and staff, the Li­ braries received an allocation of approxim ately $20,000. Alternatives for using the funding, such as subsidizing d a ta b a s e searches a n d p u rch a sin g highly specialized materials were considered, but the decision was made th at the expenditure of those funds had to make a noticeable difference to re­ searchers. A plain and good-old-fashioned-shoe- 706 / C &R L N ew s leather docum ent delivery service was thought to make the most directly identifiable impact on re­ search faculty and planning proceeded in Septem­ ber. W ith th e idea of a “s h o e -le a th e r ” service in m ind, related literature was reviewed and ideas gathered from colleagues within the Libraries and elsew here a ro u n d th e c o u n try . A p r e lim in a r y budget and an im plem entation strategy were p re ­ pared and approved by the Office of the Vice Presi­ dent for Research and G ra d u a te Studies. From the beginning of discussions about the value of the L i­ braries and the need for funding, the following steps were taken to im plem ent the service: A ctivity January 1984–May 1985: Presented a sound a r ­ gument th a t the Libraries should receive indirect cost funds. May 1985: Received notice th a t the Libraries would receive indirect cost funds in the amount of 1 % of the sum received by the University. Explored alternatives for the expenditure of in­ direct cost funds. September 1985: Decided to establish a docu­ ment delivery service. October 1985: Developed budget. W rote job description. C o n ta cte d the Research Office to determ ine which departm ents h ad grants. Investigated copier rental. Com pleted position description questionnaire for University Personnel Services. O rdered office equipm ent and supplies. Developed docum ent delivery policies. Developed docum ent delivery procedures. Developed docum ent delivery forms. Developed publicity aim ed at specific d e p a rt­ ments. W orked with circulation d ep artm en t heads to develop checkout procedures. Developed record-keeping system. W orked with Audio Visual Services to schedule the use of their delivery van. Investigated full-text databases. November 1985: Sent letter describing the p ro ­ posed service and brief questionnaire to all vice presidents and deans, and to faculty in selected de­ partments. Installed phone line and answering machine. O btained needed office equipm ent and supplies. Projected earliest hire date: November 14. January-M arch 1986: Sent letter an n o u n cin g availability of service to all who received the first letter. Monitored the nu m b er of requests, evaluated and changed procedures as needed. Provided service to any faculty m em ber who re­ quested service. Depending on the dem and: Heavy usage: Re­ evaluate staffing levels; add part-tim e if possible. M oderate usage: Increase the num ber of d e p a rt­ m e n ts se rv e d ; l e t te r to d e p a r t m e n t a l fa c u lty . (Note: Because dem an d was judged to be m oder­ ate, plans were m ade to expand the service and be­ gin a publicity cam paign. P art-tim e staff from IL L were called on as needed.) L o w usage: Launch publicity cam paign (Campus News Service). April-May 1986: E valuated the service and re­ p o rte d to th e Vice P resid en t for Research a n d G ra d u a te Studies. Established plan for new academic year. In an effort to both inform and gather advice on the proposed service, 114 administrators and fac­ ulty in eighteen departm ents (primarily the sci­ ences because those departm ents generate the most indirect cost funds) were sent brief questionnaires in November (Figure 1). Survey results dem o n ­ strated th at the service was w an ted and 9 1 % of those who responded said th at they would use the service. Those who said they would not use the ser­ vice generally have offices near bran ch libraries in their subject areas. Most who said they would use the service also said they would allow designated grad u ate and research assistants to check out books in th e ir nam es. Most resp o n d en ts felt t h a t th e phone would be the most used means of tra n sm it­ ting requests. Some could not believe we were seri­ ous about offering the service w ithout charge to the facu lty . A lth o u g h in itia lly a n n o u n c e d only to deans and to faculty in selected departm ents, the intention was to serve all faculty and none have or will be refused service. Accounting and economics faculty, for example, have used the service more th an m any of the sciences. Excerpts from unsolicited letters include one from a professor w h o h a d re q u e s te d m a te ria l through IL L only to find th at the verification pro­ cess had located it at UW and referred it to D ocu­ m ent Delivery. He wrote, “Im agine my delight to receive, delivered to my d ep artm en t the next day, exactly the articles I needed. Your In te rlib ra ry Loan people are to be commended. How you found staff, budget, and time to convert for it is one of the miracles of library adm inistration which I ’ll never co m p re h en d .” Another letter adds, “T he faculty in Zoology are in uniform agreement th a t D ocum ent Delivery is the most im p o rta n t program since b u y ­ ing books and journals.” W hy docum ent delivery? Indirect cost funds of­ ten go tow ards funding programs which do not di­ rectly affect research faculty. D ocum ent Delivery is a direct visible service which is w orthy of faculty support and service has not detracted from other li­ brary services but has, in fact, enhanced IL L ser­ vices. The program was initiated in a deliberate m anner, allowing for successful relationships to be developed w ith faculty users of the service. The Li­ braries are confident th a t the service will continue to a ttra c t new users and will provide faculty with those materials which they need but do not have time to retrieve. W hy docum ent delivery? Because it works! Be­ cause it is needed! Decem ber 1986 / 707 Figure 1 Q U E S T I O N N A I R E The Document Delivery Unit will begin taking requests for articles and books in the near future and begin delivery of those materials to departmental offices. Your assistance in answering a few questions will help us finalize planning of the service. NAME (optional) DEPARTMENT: Do you think, based on the little w e ’ve told you about the service, that you would make requests? YES NO Do you often come across citations for articles or books and wonder if the Libraries have the material? YES NO If you were able to submit your requests by campus mail, would you be likely to do so? YES NO If you were able to submit your requests by phone, would you be likely to do so? YES NO If you could do both, which would you do most often? MAIL PHONE If you could have others working with you benefit from the service, would you be willing to give us their names? YES NO Would you be willing to permit those individuals to request books and have those books checked out in your name? YES NO LOOK FOR AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE BEGINNING OF THE DOCUMENT DELIVERY SERVICE Selected bibliography Brandehoff, Susan E. “21st-Century Document Delivery: Some Scenarios.” American Libraries, October 1982, p. 590. D Elia, George, and Charla Hutkins. “Faculty mation Retrieval Service: Successf s Delivery Service at Auraria Library. braries 12 (March 1986):22–24. Use of Document Delivery Services: The Result of a Survey. ” Journal o f Academic Librarianship 12, no. 2 (May 1986):69-74. Saldinger, Jeffrey. “Full Service Document D e­ livery: Our Likely F u tu re .” Wilson Library Bul­ letin 58 (May 1984):639–42. Woo, Christina, and Imelda Mulholland. “Infor­ ul Document ” Colorado Li­ AN INVALUABLE W A D IC T IO N O A R Y OF C R L A S S IC L A L P L D A C E N AM ES historically significant SOURCE OF MICHAEL-GRANT sites from Scotland in INFORMATION the north to the Sahara A B O U T T HE in the south, and from A N C IEN T 736pp. 1986 ISBN 0-8242-0742-4 LC 86-15785 $65 U.S. and Canada. $75 other countries. Spain in the west to WORLD Pakistan in the east, spanning a period This new book — by from the first millennium one of to d a y ’s most B.C. (when the Greek distinguished class­ city-states em erged ical scholars — re­ from the ruins of the veals the ancient world Bronze Age) until the through the num erous late fifth century A.D. sites of its history and (the fall of the western legends. A reference Roman Empire). For book for students, those readers who teachers, readers of reguire additional in­ classical literature and formation, a b ib lio g ­ history, and useful raphy of books and ba ckg ro u n d reading periodicals is for travellers, supplied. A G uide to the A n cie n t World is an invaluable source of information about the A B O U T T H E A UTHOR im portant ge o g ra p h ica l locations in Michael Grant is a Past President of the ancient Greek, Etruscan, and the Classical Association; A Fellow of Roman worlds. Trinity College, C am bridge; Professor of Hum anity at Edinburgh University; President and V ice-C hancellor of AN EASY-TO-USE GUIDE TO THE the Q ue en’s University, Belfast; and WORLD OF HOMER AND CAESAR the author of many books. C overing nations, provinces, cities, towns, rivers, seas, straits, mountains, plains, and b a ttle g rounds, ALSO BY MICHAEL GRANT the entries in the Guide are listed alphabetically and G re e k and Latin Authors: consist of short 150-1500 w ord essays on the histor­ 8 0 0 B.C. — A .D. 1000 ical and m ythological events associated with a site, 492pp. 1980 ISBN 0-8242-0640-1 LC 79-27446 together with g e o g ra p h ica l location, ancient and $40 U.S. and Canada, $45 other countries. m odern names, current archaeological information, Chosen by C hoice as O utstanding A ca d e m ic as well as references to the classical writers from Book, 1980-1981whom we draw our know ledge, such as Xenophon, Herodotus, Homer, Josephus, and Caesar. Chosen by School Library Journal as a R e co m m e n d e d R eference Source for School M edia Centers. 9 0 0 ESSAYS ON 1500 YEARS OF HISTO RY To O rder Call Toll-Free: Featuring 16 pag e s of specially pre p a re d m aps 1 -8 0 0 -3 6 7 -6 7 7 0 that locate every entry in the book, A G uide to the In New York State, call 1-800-462-6060; A n c ie n t World covers a pproxim ately 900 in Canada, call collect 212-588-8400. A GUIDE TO THE ANCIENT THE H.W. WILSON COMPANY 950 University Avenue, Bronx, New York 10452