Status Line

• Resource Sharing
• Jul-Aug 07
• Issue: 214

Saying No or Using Conditional on OCLC ILL

When responding to ILL requests as a lender, it can be difficult to decide when to say No to a request and when to send the borrower a Conditional message. As a general rule, you should send a Conditional when there is an error or problem with the request that can be corrected by the borrower. You should say No to the request when you are clearly not able to supply the material.

Use a Conditional When:

• An item cannot be located as cited. In this case if you were to say No to the request, the incorrect citation would be sent on to each remaining lender, and no one would be able to supply it. Instead, send a conditional and allow the borrower a chance to correct the citation or cancel the request.
• An indication of copyright compliance is missing.
• Address information is insufficient.
• Prepayment is required.
• The MaxCost is insufficient for your lending charges.
• If you prefer IFM as a lender, and the borrower hasn’t indicated IFM in the MaxCost field.
• The item is non-circulating but a photocopy is available.
• Another edition of the item is available.

Say No when:

• You have a routine reason for not supplying the item:
  • It’s lost or not owned.
  • It’s on order or being processed.
  • It’s on hold or on reserve.
• You receive a request for material that you don’t lend, as clearly stated in your ILL policies.
  • A/V
  • Genealogy
  • Theses/dissertations
  • Reference
  • Manuscripts, rare materials or special collections

If you’re ever in doubt about whether to say No or send a Conditional, feel free to contact Jon Penn at Nylink.

Resource Sharing Contact Information

Please contact Jon Penn, Resource Sharing Librarian at Nylink, with questions. Jon is available via email (pennj@nylink.org) or phone (800-342-3353/518-443-5444).