New beginnings and new(bie) perspectives

Well it’s my first blog of the 2015 (happy new year all) and with the start of the new year thoughts turn to new beginnings. I talked in a previous post about how useful other perspectives can be to us when reviewing our procedures and trying new tools or ways of working - having worked in interlending, in at least some capacity, since I started my career in librarianship over 11 years ago, I often forget that so much of what we do on a daily basis is a mystery to even experienced library staff who haven’t been involved in interlending before.



A nice pic of some new buds - won't be long until the blossom trees bloom!

So, to continue the new year/ new perspectives theme, we have a new member of staff in our inter-library loans team and I thought it might be interesting for some of us more established (potentially jaded!) interlenders to remind ourselves what it was like to be new to interlending and interview the newest member of our team…

Yesim has worked in libraries for over 15 years, she is originally from Turkey, speaks fluent French and started working in inter-library loans in November 2014.

What do you enjoy about interlending work?

I enjoy trying to locate and find details of items that are requested - for example using Copac and Worldcat. I also like it when people order interesting books and getting to see them when they arrive from other libraries and seeing where they have come from! I like the variety.

What is the most interesting thing you have learned since beginning interlending work?

The need for attention to detail - for example when I’m checking to see if we have the correct item someone has asked for. I’ve also learned to use more tools that I didn’t know about before, so Copac, but also using Summon (the Library’s resource discovery layer) to check if we have an article in stock. I hadn’t really used that before so have more confidence using it and other databases now.

Did anything surprise you about interlending work - was there anything you weren’t expecting?

I suppose I wasn’t really aware of how much there was to learn before starting in inter-library loans. At the moment I mainly check and process requests and then receive loans when they arrive but if you want an in depth knowledge there is a variety of other things to learn about, like copyright, locating items from other libraries and communicating with them and loaning and supplying items - potentially all over the world!

What do you think about ILL as a service for our users?

I think it’s a good service for them, especially when items arrive quickly. I’m not sure how well known it is - more people could be taking advantage I think!

So there you have it - the newbie perspective - all in all pretty positive I'd say, which is always a nice way to start something new :)

Natalie Guest
FIL web officer