Thursday, October 3, 2019
For those unfamiliar with Resource Sharing (Interlibrary Loan) an important part of this service involves Document Delivery. Full text scholarly journal articles are rarely freely available online. They live behind pay walls that make these articles inaccessible without a subscription. With increased visibility online, patrons are easily finding citations, but are unable to obtain the full text article. A single article can cost anywhere between $30-$50 or more. Enter Interlibrary Loan. If their school or public library provides Interlibrary Loan service, students can create an ILL request for a photocopy of an article – all at no cost to them. Provided the photocopy complies with copyright law, articles are sent via OCLC’s Article Exchange or via PDF email attachment. In many cases, turnaround time is 48 hours.
This service is available to all types of libraries in Wisconsin, including K-12s. It’s called WISCAT and is available for a $200 annual licensing fee. It helps students succeed. Their research does not have to end when all they can find is an abstract. More information about the service and licensing will be available soon. For questions, please email dpirllill@dpi.wi.gov.
From some satisfied customers:
The Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College :
“Wow! I have to tell you I have had incredible luck getting these requests filled. I can say that out of the last 50 requests I have had one turned down. That is amazing!
Thank you for this incredible service you provide for our students.”
Green Bay West High School
"Our students are completing internal assessments for International Baccalaureate and the extended essay. The assignments range across the curriculum.
We would not be able to support their research without ordering articles full text through interlibrary loan. We REALLY appreciate this service.
Thanks so much!"
Written by: Christine Barth, Resources for Libraries and Lifelong Learning