Doing things we've always done, or why change is sometimes difficult and a long time coming...

So for those of you who've seen me recently you may have thought that I'm more absent minded / stressed / ranty / wrinkled than in former days, and there is a good reason for this - my husband and I are trying to buy our first house.

For those of you who have not yet decided to take the plunge, let me tell you, you cannot imagine the immaculate combination of stressful and hectic arranging of things and incredibly long periods of hanging around waiting for other people to do things. It's a hurry up and wait roller coaster of epic proportions - Alton Towers would be proud.

We seal the legal documents with wax - we've always done it like that...

Well the one thing I think most would agree on is that the legal aspects of the process seem shrouded in mystery and take what seems like a ridiculous amount of time in this age of instant electronic communication and mobile technology. Now I should say at this point that our solicitor has been great - she always responds to emails and phone calls promptly, is organised about chasing our case and has been great at keeping us appraised of the situation, but often she has not been able to pass significant stages in the process because another solicitor in the chain won't return phone calls / doesn't have the file available / can't be arsed (OK I made the last one up....) It feels to someone on the outside of the process that it's a bit outdated because they've always done it that way, and no one has ever thought, "let's try doing something different, it might work better that way."

So what has this all got to do with interlending I hear you ask...

Well let's get this straight, I have no idea abut the legal complexities of purchasing property, so although I like to rant about it I can't really comment on the way it should be done. However, something happened last week that made me think twice about the way we've always done something in our inter-library loans team.

It's a small thing but we always apply to the British Library for items first as a matter of course - only if they can't supply do we search for other locations. Where the BL can't supply, this does undeniably cause a delay to the reader, but I was happy in the idea that the time we saved searching at the beginning made up for this delay where it happened. At the recent FIL@BL St Pancras event at the British Library conference centre (very good ginger biscuits) I found that about a two thirds majority of attendees search for locations first and then apply to a library they are pretty certain can supply. This was a surprise to me and I could see how doing things this way would  mean more items arrive quicker. Change is sometimes difficult and a long time coming but now I'm thinking "let's try doing something different, it might work better that way."

Natalie
FIL membership secretary