Interloan Handbook

THE NEW ZEALAND INTERLIBRARY LOAN SYSTEM:

Operation Guidelines

Statement of purpose

Scope

Library participation in Interloan

Guidelines for requesting

Charging

Administration

Monitoring

Background

Statement of Purpose

Interloan is a national resource sharing cooperative for libraries wishing to share their collection resources in order to enhance access to information for the benefit of their customers/clients and the people of New Zealand. A successful Interloan Scheme is based on 5 key values:

• customer focus
• access
• fairness
• cooperation
• sharing.

Systems for reporting holdings, supply and exchange of materials and crediting suppliers are necessary to achieve and balance these values.

Interloan Scheme


The Interloan Scheme is a decentralised system, designed to encourage as many libraries as possible to be suppliers. It is a single national scheme, designed with maximum flexibility, so that within its overall umbrella, regional or sector based sub-groups may operate on terms agreed between the participants. The Scheme includes both loans and copies of articles or extracts, allowing for the different requirements of each, and could in future include document supply to end-user clients.

It covers all formats, depending on the supplying Library’s willingness to lend and the conditions it sets.

Membership of Interloan Scheme



3.1 "Charter" Libraries


There are two categories of membership of the Interloan Scheme – Charter Library and Non-Charter Library.  Both categories of membership are prescribed libraries in terms of Section 50 of the Copyright Act 1994 or in terms of Copyright (General Matters) Regulations 1995 or 1998.


3.1.1  Full Interloan Scheme membership is open to any library which agrees to meet Interloan "Charter" requirements. The Charter is a code of practice which covers the responsibilities of libraries, as both suppliers and requesters. The code of practice is necessary to ensure the efficient and effective operation of Interloan. A copy of the Charter is included in Section 9 of the Handbook.

3.1.2  Charter Libraries agree to the following requirements:

1. As Supplier
   1. to report holdings to the National Union Catalogue (as currently represented by Te Puna)
   2. to supply/lend collection materials wherever possible
   3. to comply with s.50-56 and all other relevant sections of the Copyright Act 1994
   4. to meet a turnaround time for the majority of incoming requests of dispatch within 72 hours (3 working days) or, if this is not possible, respond to the requesting library within 48 hours (2 working days) of receipt of a request.

2. As Requester:
   1. to take due care and responsibility for all items borrowed
   2. to return or renew items by the due date
   3. to pay all charges levied by the supplying library in the form and timeframe required by the supplying library
   4. to provide the Interloan Billing Scheme with contact, GST and other details necessary for billing purposes, and pay IBS invoices by direct debit on the date specified.

3.1.3  Charter status is retained indefinitely unless the requirements of the charter are not met.

3.1.4  A Charter Library is a member of the Interloan Scheme and is thus a Prescribed Library in terms of the Copyright Act 1994.

3.1.5  Charter libraries are identified as such in the Directory of New Zealand libraries http://directory.natlib.govt.nz/library-symbols-web/



3.2 "Non-Charter" Libraries

3.2.1  Non-Charter Library status is available to any library wishing to participate in the New Zealand Interloan scheme by requesting and supplying interloans. While reporting of holdings is not a requirement for these libraries their ability to supply interloans will be constrained if they do not do so.

3.2.2  To enable them to borrow items, Non-Charter Libraries register and agree to fulfil certain responsibilities, including responsibility for items borrowed and compliance with Copyright Act requirements. A copy of the agreement is included in Section 10 of the Handbook.

3.2.3  Non-Charter Libraries agree to the following requirements:

1. to take due care and responsibility for all items borrowed
2. to return or renew items by the due date
3. to pay all charges levied by the supplying library in the form and timeframe required by the supplying library
4. to comply with s.50-56 and all other relevant sections of the Copyright Act 1994.

3.2.4  A Non-Charter Library is a member of the Interloan Scheme and is thus a Prescribed Library in terms of the Copyright Act 1994. 

3.2.5  Charter Libraries are not obliged to supply to Non-Charter Libraries but are encouraged to do so.

3.2.6  The supply charge to Non-Charter Libraries may be a premium charge, reflecting their non-participation in resource sharing.

3.2.7  Non-Charter Libraries may negotiate formal or informal arrangements with other libraries on a regional or sectoral basis.

3.2.8  Non-Charter Libraries are identified as such in the Directory of New Zealand libraries

Guidelines for requesting and supplying


4.1  In the interests of minimising work for suppliers, libraries are encouraged to meet or work towards the following general requirements for requests.

4.2  Requesters are encouraged to use electronic request systems e.g. Te Puna Interloan, wherever possible.

Supplying Libraries may either:

1. accept manual and non-compliant electronic requests and proceed as usual; or
2. accept manual or non-compliant electronic requests but negotiate a price differential for them; or
3. refuse to accept manual or non-compliant electronic requests.

4.3  Requesters are expected to provide sufficient, accurate bibliographic details for all requests wherever possible.

Supplying Libraries may either:

1. accept incomplete requests and proceed as usual; or
2. negotiate a higher charge for any extra bibliographic work required; or
3. reserve the right to give incomplete requests lower priority; or
4. refuse to accept requests with incomplete bibliographic details and return them to the requester.

4.4  Supplying libraries may refuse to supply items to libraries which fail to make payments on time.

Charging

5.1  Interloan operates as a charged system with each library free to set its own charges, including a zero charge.

5.2  The average cost per interloan established by the JSCI in 1997 and recommended as the standard charge is $14.00 per loan. This cost is a guide only, for libraries to adopt if they wish. This cost will be reviewed from time to time by the JSCI.

5.3  The requirements of the Copyright Act 1994, s.51(2)(b) and s.52(2)(c) are that charges for copying by librarians be limited to not more than the total cost of production of the copy and a reasonable contribution to the general expenses of the library. For further information about charging in relation to the Copyright Act, see Copyright Act 1994: implications for the interloan scheme (LIANZA, 2007)

5.4  A surcharge may be applied for urgent or fast-track services.

5.5  Each library may set different levels of charges for different categories of requester, for example, a higher rate to Non-Charter libraries which do not report holdings, to reflect their lack of contribution to the Interloan infrastructure.

5.6  Each library will be free to enter into formal or informal arrangements on a regional, sector or other basis, and to negotiate charges with these groups accordingly, including discounting or waiving charges.

5.7  It is up to each library to determine whether charges are passed on to the end-user or met by the library or shared between the two.

5.8  LIANZA and the National Library have jointly established a billing agency, the Interloan Billing System, to handle all interloan charging. The IBS is operated by the National Library for the JSCI, and is designed to provide a low-cost, cooperative approach to billing and crediting of interloan charges. It takes billing information electronically from Te Puna and other sources, or manually. Use of the IBS for billing purposes is optional. Full details of the IBS are set out on the LIANZA Website: http://www.lianza.org.nz/about/profile/interloan/interloan_ibs.html


Administration

6.1  Interloan is administered by the JSCI, established jointly by the National Library of New Zealand, and the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (or other body established by New Zealand libraries for the purposes of resource sharing). It consists of 3 members appointed or elected by the LIANZA, to be broadly representative of Charter Libraries, and either 2 or 3 nominated by the National Library.

6.2  This committee undertakes a minimal level of administration for Interloan, specifically to:

1. coordinate the signing of Charters and the registration of Non-Charter Libraries; as necessary from time to time
2. collecting national and international interloan statistics from charter and non-charter libraries
3. monitor compliance with the Charter responsibilities for reporting holdings and turnaround times, as set out in Paragraph 7
4. carry out ongoing review of the policies, performance, and needs of Interloan users, including monitoring changing trends in interloan use and document supply, and initiate changes to the scheme as needed.

6.3  The Terms of Reference of the JSCI are on the LIANZA website: http://www.lianza.org.nz/about/profile/interloan/interloan_role_on_jsci.html 

6.4  In addition the JSCI has certain responsibilities in relation to the IBS contract. These are set out in the Roles and Responsibilities of the JSCI on the LIANZA website: http://www.lianza.org.nz/about/profile/interloan/interloan_role_on_jsci.html included as Section 12 of this Handbook.

6.5  Any complaints about an individual library's Interloan performance should be addressed directly by the complainant to the library concerned.

6.6  For LIANZA members there is no registration fee. Charter and Non-Charter Libraries which are not members of LIANZA pay an annual registration fee to LIANZA to offset any direct costs incurred in administering the Scheme. This fee is reviewed from time to time by LIANZA.



Monitoring

7.1  In order to ensure that Interloan requirements are met, the following aspects of its operation are monitored by the JSCI:

1. Verification that holdings are being reported is carried out annually. Non-compliance may result in cancellation of a Library's Charter
2. National and International statistics are collated and analysed
   
3. Information on average turnaround times for each Charter Library that uses the Te Puna Interloan module will be published annually
4. Libraries which fail to institute and maintain a direct debit facility will be prevented from using IBS and may be refused service by supplying libraries.

Background

8.1  These Guidelines for the operation of Interlibrary Loan were introduced from July 1997, following a period of extensive consultation. For further background information about these Guidelines, refer to A new model for Inter-Library Loan in New Zealand, written by the JSCI, November 1996 (NZLIA Public Document Series 1996/7) available from LIANZA.



New Zealand Interloan Scheme Charter


New Zealand Interloan Scheme: Agreement for Non-Charter Libraries


New Zealand Interloan Scheme: Interloan Billing System


Joint Standing Committee on Interloan: Terms of Reference

Edited by Kathryn Bolland and Alison Elliott, April 2007