Free 3 Months Trial to OCLC's new WorldShare service

Free three month trial to OCLC’s new ILL service for delegates of FIL’s Interlend 2013 conference

To mark the release of WorldShare Interlibrary Loan, OCLC are offering delegates of Interlend 2013 run by the Forum for Interlending and Information Delivery (FIL), a free three month trial to the service. 

OCLC WorldShare Interlibrary Loan expands traditional interlibrary loan with new, integrated delivery options that support new library workflows that have developed in response to changing user needs. In the new service, interlibrary loan is just one of a growing list of delivery options that includes short-term access to e-books and convenient ways to purchase needed resources instead of borrowing them.

The WorldShare Platform supports new features in WorldShare Interlibrary Loan that require interoperation with other applications, such as the display of lender costs from the Policies Directory and display of item availability from a library's ILS.  In the future, additional integration with other WorldShare applications will benefit libraries that subscribe to multiple WorldShare applications.

See for yourself how libraries benefit from streamlined interlibrary…

If you are attending Interlend 2013 in Cardiff from 27^th – 28^th June you can learn more  about WorldShare Interlibrary Loan by hearing Elisabeth Robinson, OCLC Product Manager talk about the new service as part of the conference programme. Elisabeth will present at 16.00 on 27^th June.

OCLC is also offering Interlend delegates a three-month trial of WorldShare Interlibrary Loan to at no charge if your library doesn’t already subscribe to OCLC for resource sharing services. All you need to do is stop by the OCLC exhibition stand at Interlend to get your event specific registration url.

LEARN MORE

Additional information, including a timeline for adding new functionality to WorldShare Interlibrary Loan, is available on the WorldShare Interlibrary Loan website.

Anyone for PIMMS?

Anyone for PIMMS?

So with Interlend13, just over a week away @FIL_ILL was aware of a plea via Twitter from @Porkpie100, wondering out loud if any #FILCardiff13 delegates were in town the night prior to Interlend13.

Being a Cardiff girl, I thought it only right to give those of you coming the night before a few pointers and the option of dining with the FIL Committee!

Mill Lane is directly opposite the Maldron Hotel and has numerous bars & restaurants including Las Igaunas (Mexican & great cocktails), Peppermint (Bar) Juboraj (Indian) & The Cornerhouse - many of these bars / restaurants have seats outside so you can enjoy the beautiful Cardiff sunshine! (It's on order - promise!)

There is also just a further 5 min stroll away 'The Brewery Quarter' - this is on the site of the old Brains Brewery site, hence the name and has a range of eatieries.

For more information about eating out & things to do if anyone is making a weekend of it - then the Visit Cardiff website may come in handy.

As I said earlier, the FIL Committee are heading to The Cornerhouse, but only after we've prepped everything ready for the conference! If you'd like to join us then you are more than welcome - please either let me know by commenting here by no later than Friday 21st June or drop me an email to say that you would like to join us. We will be pre-ordering our meals, so once I know you are coming we will get the order form to you!

Cheers,

Marie Lancaster

FIL Chair

Photo Credit : Marie Lancaster (C) 

Bond villains, why tea is the answer to most things and spreadsheets galore - it's Interlend 2013!

I'd like to start my post in the style of all good Bond villains - T(ea) minus 8 days and counting (see what I did there?)

Yes it's not long now until Interlend 2013 and with that in mind it's a good time to talk about tea, and why it is the answer to most things. Reading Mark's post FIL Interlend 2013 Conference - I'm here now what do I do? and those of my other fellow FIL bloggers has reminded me what's most valuable about attending conferences and events - meeting people in the tea breaks and finding out what they're doing! So many of the useful ideas I have brought back from events like this are from having a chat with a fellow interlender about what projects they're working on at the moment - it really broadens my horizons and I always get useful tips that I can use when I get back to work.

My first Interlend conference was 2012 in Worcester, and have to say for any first timers out there don't worry - FIL folk are really welcoming and the conference was full of practical stuff about the day to day things we all deal with. It was really easy to ask questions and chat to people, so I can highly recommend;

1. Being nosy, and asking people what they are up to in their organisations (all in the name of CPD obviously)
2. Ask a question (especially if you think it might be a stupid question, I can guarantee at least one other person in the room will be thinking exactly the same thing) and
3. When you return to work full of ideas but get a reality check with the daily grind, don't feel bad when you don't implement everything you learned immediately

This last one is really tricky - it's great when you attend conferences and get enthused with ideas you can try out but it's easy to get despondent when you get back to work and it seems so hard to implement any of your ideas due to financial / staffing / day to day stuff. What I did last year was pick one small thing out of my list of ideas to start after the conference - doing this made it feel achievable and it really did make a difference so it was a positive step.

After Interlend 2012 I was so enthused I joined the committee and took on the role of membership secretary. As membership secretary I look after new members who are joining FIL and take bookings for our events. So far it's been a really interesting and valuable thing - with the rest of the committee I help to plan events of interest to our lovely members and it helps keep me abreast of new ideas and issues in interlending. Looking after the bookings has given me a chance to try out new tools, like the Google form we used for Interlend bookings this year so our delegates could book online (which produces the most satisfying spreadsheet!) I had always found previous FIL events so useful and it feels good now to be giving something back and helping to organise current events, even though that means I sometimes seem to spend a lot of time looking at multiple spreadsheets...

With the bookings all sorted now, I'm looking forward to attending Interlend and meeting up with the membership (over a nice cuppa of course.)

Natalie Guest
FIL membership secretary

Vroom... Vroom... 2 Days out in Cardiff...

Vroom... Vroom ... 2 days out in Cardiff …

Well it’s not long to wait until Interlend 2013 …. It’s only around 20 days now until ‘show time’ to misquote from “Beetlejuice” (available in all good DVD and charity shops).  

I hope you are as excited as we are..? We have a few treats in your goodie bags this year, as well as a wine reception, a slap up conference dinner and a library visit.

Other goodies..? Apparently Cardiff has a very vibrant night life, as well as excellent shops, lots of cultural highlights and I think it is famous for some sporting activity … Some of the committee members might be able to tell you more if you ask them..

Did I hear you ask if there are any more goodies ….?  Well … this year the FIL committee have secured an excellent range of speakers. They reflect the variety of roles we inter library loaners have, the range of skills required and incorporate all the different places we work in. We are aiming to give you something to think about. Maybe something to inspire you when you get back to where you work? If we have succeeded, you could always share that with us later…

In order to get the most out of the event, perhaps we should take some time to consider what it is we want to get out of the conference. Is it meeting like minded people, is it something practical, is it service improvement ideas, is it a better understanding of copyright or even just a trip to Cardiff?

Having a more strategic approach to learning and taking responsibility for our CPD can be of enormous benefit to us as librarians. So how can I do that then … Well how about preparing a list of questions you want answers to before the event? Or swotting up on the biogs of speakers? Or checking out the delegates list for professional contacts, or setting yourself a few goals e.g. to meet 2 new people and ask 1 question. As we are now generally required to justify why we want to attend training events and what we have learnt, maybe one action from the conference is that our experiences are shared more widely on the new FIL blog..?

What do you think.. Beetlejuice may have been scary but we aren’t, so give it a go … your starter for 10 ‘what did I learn from my trip to Cardiff…?’

Jennie Cooke

FIL Committee Member

An 'old hands' view of FIL Interlend!

Ok so compared to some members of FIL I'm not necessarily an 'old hand' - but occasionally it feels like it!

I first attended a FIL Interlend as a day delegate, with no idea of what to expect and knowing nobody from FIL and very few other Interlending staff.  I remember being very warmly welcomed when I arrived and many of the then committee took the time to introduce themselves and made a point of introducing others from the 'public library' world to me. 

I was immediately taken under the wing of another public library attendee and 'shown the ropes'.  This did make for an interesting day as I had somebody I could bounce ideas off and discuss the topics of mutual interest to us.  I did also mix with others at the conference, including the mystical world of University interlending. In those days, that involved a lot of exclamation on my part at the number of staff in ILL departments in Universities and the amount of money they seemed to have in their budgets. (long gone are those days)

By the end of the day at my first Interlend, I had been persuaded by a committee member to write an article for the FIL newsletter and to consider being on the committee.  Both of which I did - very persuasive those FIL committee!

The next FIL Conference the following year was my very first fully attended conference, something I had never done before and something that had not been allowed by my authority in the past.  However my manager could easily see the benefit of the conference, the information I returned with, the network of Interlending colleagues I made during the conference and the influence I could have input to on the future of ILL by being at the conference and on the committee.

I am pleased to say that since those early days I have only missed one Interlend and now I'm on my second term on the committee. (you can only serve 4 successive years then you have to have a break of at least 2 years before you are able to return to the committee).  I still get a thrill at the idea of attending the conference, I study the programme to decide which sessions I want to make sure I attend, look forward to making new contacts in the ILL world and meeting up with people from previous years.

The great thing now is that I also have an opportunity to influence the theme of the conference and so much more input into all things ILL nationally.  Being on the committee this time and my first time has being a huge confidence boost and enabled me to do things I never thought possible. 

I along with other committee members had input into the book, Interlending & Document Supply in Britain Today edited by Committee member Jean Bradford & Jenny Brine.  My contribution may only have been as co-writer for one chapter but it was my first foray into the publishing world.  I have since written a number of articles for journals and am now editor for the FIL Newsletter.

So, if you have been unsure about coming to the conference or getting involved in the committee, don't be - just jump at the chance. You'll meet a great group of people, be able to share experiences and realise there are so many others with the same ideas, problems but also solutions that you may not have thought of.  It's also your chance to get involved in ILL nationally and internationally, influence what we do in the world of interlending, encourage others and help us put Interlending on the map of libraries.

Say it loud, say it proud we are Inter-Library Loans and we are an important part of the Library world - hear us roar!

See you at the conference.

Tracey Jackson

Inter-Library Loans Supervisor

Hertfordshire Libraries

FIL Newsletter Editor

FIL Interlend 2013 Conference - I'm here now what do I do?

AD White Library © 2007 by Olin & Uris Libraries ,

 used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license:

 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en

In order to get the most out of the conference I am of the opinion that the best thing to do, beyond attending the presentations, is talk to people.  Having attended FIL Interlend 2012 I must say that the most rewarding thing for me was hearing interlending colleagues' perspectives, how their interlending service is set up, things they think work well for them and anything they might be trying to improve.  I really enjoyed the presentations I attended in 2012 but I found the opportunity to talk and reflect with colleagues especially valuable.

Another thing, if you like tweeting, is to tweet your thoughts using the #FILCardiff13 hashtag.  The more tweets we have the better in my opinion.  In my experience of the interlending world everyone has a unique perspective and a non-issue with airing their opinion.  So for those who tweet. this is a really great way to engage with others at the conference.  Contentious tweets, retweets, general thoughts or quoting an interesting point from a presentation are all equally welcome.

Another thing is reflecting on what we can take back with us to our workplace.  Ultimately this the main purpose of attending a conference like this.  Almost everyone coming to FIL 2013 will know what it's like to be involved in an interlending service.  After attending FIL Interlend 2012 I left full of ideas of what I could implement or develop and some of those ideas had a lasting, positive impact on the service where I work.  Allowing the knowledge you come back with to inform your practice makes the whole thing worthwhile and satisfying.

Mark Kluzek
FIL Committee Member
King's College London