Let`s say you`re looking for a book you know your library does not have. Do you drive to the nearest bookstore or try to borrow the library card of a friend in another town?
If you live in Illinois, the answer is no to both questions. The correct answer is: Go back to your library and request the book from another library. The process is called inter-library loan, and most people aren`t even aware it exists, said Jack Hicks, administrative librarian of the Deerfield Public Library. ”Most patrons don`t know that we can get a book we don`t own or a magazine we don`t subscribe to,” he said.
In Illinois, the cooperative partnership of sharing library resources is called the Illinois Library and Information Network (ILLINET), and it consists of more than 2,400 member libraries. The Illinois State Library coordinates ILLINET through 18 regional library systems, which include public, school, academic and special libraries, such as corporate, association or private facilities.
The North Suburban Library System (NSLS) in Wheeling is the regional system for 390 libraries spread over 840 square miles in Cook, Kane, Lake and McHenry Counties. ”We are the connecting tissue for the libraries,” said Sarah Ann Long, system director. By joining NSLS, a member library has access to resource materials nationally, as well as next door, Long said.
When NSLS was started 25 years ago, one of the major tools used for making inter-library loans was a massive card catalog containing the holdings of all NSLS members, Long said. If a book requested couldn`t be found at a neighboring library, system personnel would place a request by mailing request forms to other member libraries.
”Now many NSLS members belong to an automated (computer) database in which their holdings are merged with holdings of neighboring libraries. These collections can be searched and the material electronically requested from the neighbor`s holdings,” Long said.
Member libraries with computer systems and the necessary electronic equipment, such as modems, can search the resources of 800 Illinois libraries through ILLINET ONLINE, a statewide database, Long said. If the information cannot be found in-state, this same technology can be used to access a national database to locate items in libraries across the country, she said.
Materials requested by inter-library loan in Illinois are delivered by the Illinois Library Delivery Service van, usually within two days, or individual pages can be sent via fax machine for speedier service. Materials requested out-of-state are usually sent by mail, Long said.
About 80 percent of NSLS public libraries and approximately 50 percent of the academic and special libraries have card catalogs on computers, said Miriam Pollack, system development officer. ”The school libraries are just starting, and that`s mainly high schools in larger districts,” she said. About 10 percent of the public schools have this service.
All ten schools in the Barrington Community Unit School District 220 share an on-line catalog. Though the paper catalogs sit near the computer terminals, they`re not really being maintained, said Joyce Karon, coordinator of media services for the district. ”They`re a useless appendage.” The new middle school that will open next fall will have only an on-line catalog, Karon said. ”We can`t afford to replicate it (a paper catalog), and it`s not necessary.”
She added, ”The next thing we`re going to do is open up two lines so the students can dial in from home.”
”Libraries are on the forefront of the computer revolution,” said Long, the NSLS director. ”By the year 2000 some journals only will be (published)
on computer.” The NSLS automation consultant has been an incredible service for libraries, because that`s the way so much information comes now, she said. A priority goal for the NSLS in 1991 is to create a system-wide database from which it will be possible to access the holdings of all member libraries from any library, Long said. ”We would create a computer record with well over one million items in it.”
