iSchool Capstone

Characteristics of International Interlibrary Loaning

Project tags:

data curation

information behavior & user research

knowledge organization

This capstone project wanted to determine characteristics of materials shared internationally by libraries’ interlibrary loan (ILL) departments, seeking to determine drivers behind such resource sharing and whether any interesting or useful patterns in the practice could be identified. By interviewing institutions who participate in international ILL, we found that the experience, and number of resources shared by the participants varied greatly and were the result of differing circumstances. It was determined that participants faced similar challenges the world over, but that the responsibility ILL teams feel to their users to provide the best access to resources is universal.
Project participants:

Abigail Reeb

MLIS Online