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Here’s to all the ILL power users!

Friday, August 9, 2019

I was recently invited to speak at an Optimists’ Club meeting.  After the panic subsided, I was left with just the sheer terror that ensues when I need to explain Interlibrary Loan to non-users without the aid of library lingo.  How can I keep the audience excited and engaged and want to run to the nearest library and ILL something?  Experience has taught me that I will receive one of two reactions when I start to explain exactly what I do as an ILL librarian:  eyes will glaze over or someone sits up straighter and has a story to tell.  These storytellers are the ILL power users.  When budgets are tight and interlibrary loan is first on the chopping block, we depend on the power users to be our champions.  This week, author Nick Ripatrazone shared his ILL story on Literary Hub:

“The librarian greeted me, asked for my name, and scanned a shelf of books along the wall.  She pulled one from the collection, and placed it on the counter—but left her hand on the book. She smiled.  “Don’t remove this white band,” she said.  “Don’t rip it. Don’t touch it. It will cause problems.” I nervously smiled in return.  There is nothing more frightening than a confident librarian.

The white band on the book, as fellow devotees of the glorious InterLibrary Loan system know, contains all of the information to facilitate return of the item to the lending library.  Removed bands slow down the system.  And the last thing that I would ever want to do is hurt, in any way, a system that has been so good to me.”

Read the rest of Nick’s story,  “InterLibrary Loan Will Change Your Life”,  on Literary Hub.

Thank you to all our champions!

Written by:  Christine Barth, Resources for Libraries and Lifelong Learning

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