Books4U

I’m just back from a Books4U training session.  What on earth is that? I can hear you thinking!  We are very lucky in Wales in that we do a lot of working together and quite often we then get help with funding for our projects from CyMAL (which is similar to the old MLA in England).  One such project is Books4U which started quite small as an interlending service in SE Wales but has now expanded to 15 partners – 12 public and 3 academic.

These books are ready to load - now where's the van?

Libraries are able to search for requests using an online catalogue and staff ring or email the library direct for the item they want. A man in a van then picks up the books from 1 place in each authority. This has meant a dramatic decrease in ILL’s done centrally and as we have free reciprocal borrowing, interlending costs have been reduced dramatically.

Moving on, CyMAL are looking at different models to see if we can have an All Wales Interlending – so watch this space!

Anyway, I’m now looking forward to our Interlend Conference in Edinburgh. I’ll have to give the Treasurer’s report at the AGM for the first time so be kind to me!

 

JulieFIL Treasurer