Interlibrary Loan Implementation Task Force Minutes
DRAFT MINUTES
May 9, 2008
2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Conference Call

Adam Wright opened the meeting. Those present:

Task Force Members
Adam Wright - North Texas Regional Library System, Co-Chair
Richard Wood - Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Co-Chair

Janet Burk - UT Medical Branch - Galveston
Linda Cavanaugh - Abilene Public Library
Judye Glick - Amigos Library Services
Catherine Hamer - University of Texas at Austin
Toni Lambert - Austin Public Library
Mary McQueen - Wichita Falls Public Library
Joan Morris - Amarillo Public Library
Tim Prather - Amigos Library Services
Randy Tibbits - Rice University
Jerry Weathers - Texas State University - San Marcos

TSLAC Liaisons
Sue Bennett - Library Resource Sharing
Chris Jowaisis - Library Development
Kevin Marsh - Library Resource Sharing
Beverley Shirley - Library Resource Sharing

Co-Chair Adam Wright reported that, in presenting the study and the work of the task force to groups in the field, he found the question came up: “Will the findings and recommendations of the Task Force really make a difference to the future of ILL?” Beverley Shirley responded that the ILL Implementation Task Force would make a difference. TSLAC sees the task force as a partner with TSLAC staff and the TSLAC commission. These three groups will work together to structure a new statewide ILL system. Because the study found the current model for ILL is not sustainable, the task force is asked to focus their efforts on models 4 – 6 of the study. The task force may consider a hybrid of these models or propose a new model. Should the task force choose to recommend a model not covered in the study, substantial research would be needed in support of that model.

Mr. Wright asked that TSLAC executive administration provide a statement reasserting the importance of the work the Task Force is doing and affirming that their work will be a significant factor in the decision making for the future of ILL in the State of Texas.

1. Minutes. Minutes approved from 4/17/08

2. Background/Refresher on current ILL Program at TSLAC

TexNet Centers

Program began with 11 TexNet Centers. The TexNet Centers were set up to provide interlibrary loan service for the small libraries in their areas. This includes public, academic, corporate, federal prisons, and school libraries. The areas served are defined by the regional library system service areas. The Centers are housed in the Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Ft Worth, Houston, Lubbock, and San Antonio Public Libraries and the Texas State Library currently. The centers are fully funded by an IMLS federal grant. The TexNet Center also processes interlibrary loan requests for the host library’s own patrons. The Texas State Library processes interlibrary loan requests for the state agency libraries. The Centers were set up in the large public libraries in order to provide the majority of the requested items from their own collections.

In 1999, the El Paso TexNet Center closed. The El Paso Public Library was moved to the Texas Group. The area libraries that the El Paso TexNet Center served were moved to the Dallas TexNet Center.

Over the years, usage has gone up significantly. Some of the area libraries are requesting 200-600 items a month. Funding has not kept up with the demand such as additional personnel. Technology has been added such as Clio and ILLiad, but technology can only do so much work. One of the benefits of the use of technology is also a drawback, requests move directly through the system without a staff person processing them. Many times a book that is held by the library is filled from another library rather than from the library’s own collection. The patron may request a book that is owned by the library but if it has a different ISBN than what the library owns, the request will go out and be filled by another library.

Another trend seen in a majority of the Centers is that a larger number of requests processed by the Centers are for their own patrons. This is a shift from the purpose of setting up the Center.

· FY08 Budget for TexNet Centers totals approximately $2.3 million.

Texas Group (List of Libraries - Word Document) - Download a MS Word File Reader, if needed.
Texas Group was formed in SFY 1997 to alleviate the increasing amount of requests at TexNet Centers, TSLAC subsidizes 78 public libraries by paying the membership fees to Amigos, subscription and access fees to OCLC and training of ILL on OCLC. Borrowing takes up majority of Texas Group activity. The majority of the Texas Group members are concentrated in larger metro areas. When the Texas Group began, some members had portions of their catalogs loaded into OCLC. TSLAC does not subsidize cataloging and many Texas Group libraries do not have current holdings in OCLC. Currently, 26 libraries are cataloging on OCLC this does not include those libraries that are using CatExpress.

· FY08 budget for Texas Group totals approximately $560,000

Project Loan/ILL reimbursements (List of Participants - Word Document) - Download a MS Word File Reader, if needed.

Participants are mostly Academic libraries with some large public libraries – 62 libraries total.
Project Loan provides an incentive to loan materials to public libraries without charge. ($4 per net lend over 100)

· FY08 budget for Project Loan totals approximately $125,000. If additional money is available at the end of year, it may be added to the ILL reimbursement budget.

Courier (List of Participants - Word Document) - Download a MS Word File Reader, if needed.
163 TexShare member libraries are receiving $900 subsidies for the TExpress library-to-library courier service. Total courier cost for a single courier stop in FY08 is $3600. Geographically, almost all of Texas is covered by the TExpress courier. With rising fuel prices, we are anticipating cost increases for next year. Judye Glick, of Amigos, will provide the task force with information on courier pricing when it is available.

· FY08 budget for courier subsidies totals $147,700

3. Goals of Study -

Revised goals from 4/17/08 meeting were approved. See the revised goals. (Word Document - Download a MS Word File Reader, if needed.)

Task force members discussed the question: “Where do we want Interlibrary Loan in Texas to be at the end of the reorganization?” They agreed to these requirements:

· Interlibrary loan services should be transparent to the end user.
· There should be equal access to ILL across state and in all sizes library.
· ILL should be available regardless of item format, and it should be able to adapt to new or alternative media formats.

ILL services should remain free for public libraries. Costs should not keep libraries from participating.

· The system should be stable (able to accommodate the actual growing demand) and the funding for the system should be sustainable

The task force discussed the importance of informing the state legislature about the importance of interlibrary loan and its funding needs. The task force asked for additional information, including the number of ILL requests currently being submitted statewide and for an explanation of how the state budgeting process works. Ms. Bennett will forward this information to them.

4. Subcommittee Assignments

Task force was broken into three groups to evaluate models 4-6. The subcommittees are to evaluate each model by the SWOT chart provided, looking at the following areas:
· Synopsis
· Strengths
· Weaknesses
· Opportunities
· Threats

The subcommittees are as follows:

Model 4

Chair – Richard Wood - Texas Tech
Linda Cavanaugh - Abilene PL
Catherine Hamer UT-Austin
Mary McQueen - Wichita Falls
Beverley Shirley - TSLAC

Model 5

Chair – Adam Wright - NTRLS
Mark Dolive - Weatherford College
Joan Morris - Amarillo PL
Judye Glick - Amigos
Randy Tibbits - Rice University
Chris Jowaisas - TSLAC

Model 6

Chair - Tim Prather - Amigos Library Services
Janet Burk - UT Medical Branch - Galveston
Jerry Weathers - Texas State University
Toni Lambert - Austin Public
Nancy Hill - WTLS
Kevin Marsh - TSLAC

Subcommittees should complete their work by late July. The task force indicated concern that funding for ILL be adequate to meet the statewide goals, that cost shifting not be confused with cost saving, that there are hidden costs that are not accounted for in the models. As part of their analysis, subcommittees will determine if the models would really save the amount indicated in the ILL Study. Subcommittees may also identify ways in which models may be combined into hybrids. When the committee as a whole reconvenes, any ideas for hybrid models will be examined and discussed.

TSLAC will post all pertinent documents dealing with the task force’s work on the Web site for the ILL Study.

5. Next Meeting:

Adam Wright will be working with TLA to schedule a presentation and/or forum at Annual Assembly in July

The TLA ILL Roundtable has offered to sponsor a presentation for the Task force to present their findings, update, pilots, etc. at the 2009 TLA Annual Conference. The group agreed that it would be a good idea to go forward with the presentation.

Next meeting – Late July, 2008 on a Friday afternoon. Mr. Wright will poll the group to determine the best date.