Library Loans Online: a new channel for a traditional service in England

The Authors

David Potts, The Museums, Libraries, and Archives Council, London, UK

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a description of a new service to be launched in England that will open up the holdings of public libraries to citizens and enable them to order items for home delivery.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper provides a descriptive analysis of a new service to be launched in England.

Findings – The paper finds that such a service is desired by stakeholders and will enhance the ability of citizens to identify and obtain books that are currently inaccessible to them.

Originality/value – The first public presentation of a service from an author who is responsible for the overall development of the project.

Article Type:

Case study

Keyword(s):

Public libraries; Interlending; Delivery services; England.

Journal:

Interlending & Document Supply

Volume:

36

Number:

3

Year:

2008

pp:

149-151

Copyright ©

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

ISSN:

0264-1615

Introduction

There are 149 library authorities in England. A total of 149 chief librarians and 149 routes into the inter-library loan (ILL) system that enables book loans between library authorities.

The ILL mechanism has remained largely unchanged for generations. It has been improved like most things by the development of information technology but the central process endures. Namely:

1. A user visits a library and is unable to find the book he/she wants.
2. The user submits a paper request to the library desk.
3. The library staff send the paper request to their ILL department.
4. The ILL department search their database of national holdings.
5. The ILL department submit a request for loan to the library authority stocking the book.
6. The holding library authority send the book to the requesting authority's ILL department.
7. The ILL department send the book to the library where the original request was made.
8. The original library notifies the user their book has arrived.
9. The user returns to the library to pick up the book.

On that final point, we also expose another long-standing library tradition. The model of loaning a book from a public library is still based on the need for a person to be physically present within the library at the point of exchange.

This nine-stage process offers a sturdy audit trail for stock movement, but often takes many weeks to complete and requires a dedicated transport system to prop it up.

It is the point listed at 4 above that provides much of the focus for discussion later in this piece. Could the public be better served if that search were placed directly in their hands?

Loaning books is the core business of public libraries. It is what they should be doing better than anyone else. And they do. At the moment.

There are threats that cannot be ignored centring around the ways people are now able to obtain books. It is no longer a straightforward scrap between buying a new book and loaning a library version. Services like Abe Books (www.abebooks.co.uk) and Read It Swap It (www.readitswapit.co.uk) offer alternative ways to get out of print books or other books that have been used before.

These are by no means the only examples. The message here is that outside of the library domain, there are many organisations and bodies doing their utmost to get books to people in traditional or innovative ways.

Much of the richness of the local public library lies in its collection of books. Much of the joy for library users lies in being able to search that collection and locate the right book to take home. Imagine if the local library contained the entire public library stock of England and that getting the book you want was just the click of a mouse away. This is the question addressed by a feasibility study recently completed by The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) entitled Library Loans Online.

The vast majority of English public libraries already have a well-established online presence allowing potential borrowers to browse their web-based catalogues. Some have gone so far as to join their catalogues with those of neighbouring authorities to provide a much wider view of stock availability across their region. Popular though such initiatives are, no authority has yet taken practical steps to remove the requirement for the borrower to be physically present at the point of book issue.

Additionally, public expectation of IT has changed considerably. The previously suspicious technophobe now routinely shops, banks and books holidays on the internet. Names like Google, Amazon, eBay and Facebook are ubiquitous and firmly established in the public consciousness. Young people are especially devoted to online services whether it is through IT in libraries, gaming consoles, iPods or mobile phones.

The online user of today expects to be able to do pretty much everything they can do in “real life”.

Library Loans Online

MLA commissioned the Library Loans Online Feasibility Study to explore the potential of offering library users the opportunity to search and reserve stock online and to have the requested item delivered to an address of their choosing. It concludes that such a scheme is not only feasible but is also widely wanted by the numerous stakeholders consulted during the feasibility study. The study provides a host of reasons for moving forward with Library Loans Online. These include:

• A well-founded means of accessing the broad public library collection including titles in print and, crucially, out of print stock.
• A means by which public libraries can widen access to these rich resources.
• The potential to improve the cost-effectiveness of library core services.
• Taking advantage of twenty-first century delivery mechanisms.
• Its potential for addressing customer expectations of accessing library stock through a “mixed-economy” of online and physical service outlets.
• The opportunity to appeal to a new generation of library users.
• The ability to use the library on a 24/7 basis.
• The right technology is now cheap, readily available and is converging with wide-reaching catalogue data.

The findings suggest that users of the Library Loans Online service should pay a fee for each item they borrow. Using the current ILL service usually requires a fee ranging from around 50p to around £4. By asking the user to cover the basic costs of the service, indications are that an unmediated online borrowing service could deliver significant efficiencies – perhaps as much as £1.5 million over three years – from traditional inter library loan services. It potentially provides:

• Consistently improved quality of service to customers.
• Wider and more efficient access to services.
• An opportunity for re-shaping library services to make effective use of technology, designed around people's needs.
• An opportunity for more efficient working and new models of delivery.

How would Library Loans Online work?

Library Loans Online would, in its initial stages, focus on “borrowable” books that are held in English public libraries, and as a web based service could be accessed via computer in the library, at home, at work, or even by mobile phone.

Books would be packaged at the lending library and sent direct to the borrower's specified address. The borrower would pay for return postage and packing (currently estimated at £3.49). The estimated cost to the library service is currently over £15 per loan using the existing ILL structure.

Borrowers would key-in their library membership number – either their existing library card number or one issued to them immediately online if they are not an existing library user – with currently available technologies being utilised to “look-up” membership across different library authorities. One search using a simple “Google-type” interface will interrogate a national database and reveal if the book is available for loan. In short, Library Loans Online will be characterised by the following core attributes:

• It is available via the internet.
• It has a simple user front-end.
• It has basic and advanced inter-library catalogue search facilities.
• Users are authenticated before proceeding with reservations.
• It has transactional functionality to allow the borrower to submit and pay for a loan.

In summary, the Library Loans Online service would offer a simple web architecture akin to those offered by web scale services such as Google and Amazon.

Constituent parts in further detail

Search interface

The search interface would be the first encounter that users would make with Library Loans Online. It would be presented as a simple “one box” search offer, with an additional “advanced” option where a number of search fields could be combined.

The way that results are presented will be crucial. Searches for a single book title on most library online public access catalogues (OPACs) deliver an often-bewildering array of options. In compiling this paper, I chose a public library OPAC at random and searched for Great Expectations. Even excepting the non-book formats (of which there were many!) there was a “clickable” list of ten books by Charles Dickens called Great Expectations. Further interrogation reveals that the large number can be accounted for because of different editions and publishers, hardbacks and paperbacks. Whilst it is useful to know there is more than one copy available, the potential for confusion exists, especially as each link has to be explored individually. Ideally, a Library Loans Online search result would have one title, possibly with a book jacket illustration and one number to indicate the level of available copies.

Authentication

Ideally, Library Loans Online would offer two authentication routes into the system. The first, and potentially most difficult to construct, would be via the user's existing library membership card. The difficulties lie in the vast range of membership card formats that currently exist in public libraries. Even library authorities that have the same library management system cannot guarantee that the membership cards for each will work on the other! However, this is not insurmountable.

The second way would merely require users to register with Library Loans Online and their credit or debit card would act as surety in the same way many online retailers operate.

National database

There are a number of ways that the holdings of all English public library authorities could be exposed as a single database. Here are three possibilities:

1. Unity UK (http://tcr.futurate.net/about_unityuk/) is a national database of public library holdings covering the whole UK. It is the main database used by ILL departments in locating stock. Presently, Unity UK is not available to the public.
2. Web services offer a way to search a number of library catalogues at once by linking data. Talis Source (www.talis.com/source/) is one example.
3. The Z39.50 protocol enables one search across a number of library catalogues. The M25 Consortium (www.inform25.ac.uk/Link/), a group of London universities, is one example.

Transaction

Users need to be able to pay for their loan. This could be done by simply inputting debit/credit card details, or by a voucher system. Either way, users would be billed for the loan, given a date for return of the book, and details of possible penalties should the book not be returned on time and in good condition. Ideally, there would be one flat rate per loan, regardless of book size.

Delivery mechanism

A national fulfilment mechanism for addressing book parcels/envelopes and then delivering them completes the picture. Every participating library would be able to download details from requests submitted and instantly print address labels. The parcel/envelope would then be passed on to a national courier able to deliver to any legitimate postal address in England. Each parcel would be accompanied by a pre-paid return envelope.

Not just one site

Although there would be tremendous benefits in presenting Library Loans Online as a single entity on behalf of all English public libraries, this need not be the only way to present the service. API-type services (application programming interface) allow the presentation of one website as an integral part of another. For instance, the Google Maps API (http://code.google.com/apis/maps/) enables you to embed the Google Maps service in your own website. A Library Loans Online presence on sites such as Curriculum Online (www.curriculumonline.gov.uk/) would provide a valuable integrated resource for schoolchildren.

Conclusions

The report concludes that Library Loans Online, is both feasible and widely wanted among the stakeholders who were consulted. The initiative offers potential opportunities for broadening access to libraries, modernising and improving library processes and delivering efficiency savings over the medium-term.

The next most urgent need is to develop a more detailed and fully costed business case that incorporates some form of credible user demand research. The delivery of the business case is a critical step before proceeding.

Research amongst the public to gauge the likely appetite for a service like Library Loans Online is essential. This research would involve users and non-users of public libraries, and explore enthusiasm for the kinds of services Library Loans Online could deliver. There could be a particular focus on “time poor” communities who currently simply do not have time to use libraries as much as they would like, or even at all.

Finally, Library Loans Online would provide a clear and powerful offer to existing and future users living anywhere in England. It would be a twenty-first century service able to fit around modern lifestyles and represent an unprecedented fundamental change in the way public libraries are used.

The Library Loans Online Feasibility Study will be published by MLA during 2008 in the context of a wider digital strategy that encompasses national membership, improved broadband connectivity and other issues related to data management and knowledge transfer

Corresponding author

David Potts can be contacted at: david.potts@mla.gov.uk