For my second
blog post ever, I’m introducing you to the North Wales Libraries Partnership
(NWLP) Inter-Library Loan (ILL) consortium, LINC y Gogledd (LINC – Libraries in
Cooperation; funded by Welsh Government). Perhaps not the most riveting topic on the planet, but cost-savings
connected to consortiums may keep you reading, especially if the words
‘cost-savings’ are strategically placed a few times in the first couple of paragraphs.
LINC partners,
all thirteen of them, comprise of college, government, university, public,
specialist and workplace partners, totalling 80-90 libraries by the time you
include every public and campus library (it’s fair to say the devil does not
make work for my proverbial!). Partners, all thirteen of them, share their
resources free. Why? I guess, more importantly than anything else, the
consortium widens access to collections – any user can have the books they
want, free of charge, delivered, free of charge, to the library they specify. In addition, LINC allows the public to join college and university libraries and
borrow in person (also free) – people just need a signed referral form and
they’re good to go! Anyhow, before I divert…The consortium also provides a better
service to the customer, allows partners to meet Welsh Government objectives (shared services and sustainability are 2 of the strategic objectives in the Welsh Government Libraries Inspire strategy),
and saves partners money (at least £200k since 2010, potentially double).
For any
readers whose attention may have been grabbed by consortiums and cost-savings
and have opted to read on, if you are now wondering whether it’s worth considering
a consortium for your service, the quick answer is, yes, it is, especially if
your service borrows considerable numbers of ILL.
If, readers,
you are now wondering how and where the cost savings come from, I’ll elaborate
presently, I just need to provide some background (I’m not trying to keep you
reading/dangling, honestly; it’s just difficult to explain without putting you at
least somewhat in the picture – and you may need to persevere here for a tiddly
minute)…
LINC began
in 2002 with:
-
Anglesey,
Conwy and Gwynedd public library services (who share a catalogue) and Bangor
University Library;, quickly
followed by:
-
Coleg
Menai and Coleg Llandrillo (now Grŵp Llandrillo-Menai).
LINC was
doing pretty well, so, in 2007, LINC expanded to:
-
Denbighshire
and Flintshire public libraries (who share a catalogue), with
intentions to expand to (it needed a little help from there, which is why I was
employed!):
-
Wrexham
public libraries, Glyndŵr University and the former Yale College Wrexham (now
part of Coleg Cambria. We have to specify ‘Wrexham’ so we don’t get into
trouble with Yale College in the US of A!);
-
The
former Deeside College (now also part of Coleg Cambria);
-
Any
other library/ies within the region – Gladstone’s Library, Wales’ National
Writers’ Centre Tŷ Newydd, and Natural Resources Wales (confused yet?!).
Anyway, in
LINC’s early days, only 71 items were borrowed via ILL across the then
partnership. Five years later, following the 2007 expansion to Denbighshire and
Flintshire, there were almost 5,000 recorded items borrowed (there are many
thousands more we don’t record, more info if you battle on through the blog
post!). Approximately 3,800 of recorded ILL were sourced from BLDSC and sources
external to LINC. Approximately 1,000 were borrowed within LINC. At this point,
BLDSC was supplying 40% of all ILL across the partnership. Before I get bogged
down with (anymore?) unnecessary detail about whether partners provide ILL as a
free/subsidised service to the customer or recuperate the full ILL cost, it’s
easier to strip it back to basic maths and leave you to fill in the gaps:
-
3,800
books x CONARLS @ £5.50 minimum = almost £21k minimum, excluding return postage
and packaging (easily £1 per item);
-
3,800
books x BLDSC @ £10 maximum = £38k maximum, excluding p&p.
Basically,
ILL was costing the then partners around £21-£38k per annum and the consortium
wasn’t saving the partners a tremendous amount. However, by the time LINC
became embedded in the newer partners and the all-Wales library catalogue was
alive, kicking and embedding nationwide (ILL across Wales went crazy, with
significant increases of 300-400% in some instances), the cost savings started
kicking in too…
In 2011-12,
over 7,300 items were borrowed across the partnership, with more than 4,400 items
sourced within LINC. In 2012-13, almost 7,300 items were borrowed, almost 5,000
within LINC. Now do the maths, because this is where the cost-savings come from
(got there in the end, albeit perhaps a little long-windedly!):
-
2011-12:
- 4,400
x CONARLS @ £5.50 = £24k minimum excluding p&p;
- 4,400
x BLDSC @ £10.50 = £46k excluding p&p;
- 4,400
in LINC = NIL!
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| Copyright 2014 Tagxedo |
-
2012-13:
- 5,000
x £5.50 = £27k minimum excluding p&p;
- 5,000
x £10.50 = £52k excluding p&p;
- 5,000
in LINC =NIL!
These
figures would have carried on into 2013-14 if the all-Wales catalogue hadn’t
been beset with technical issues (new catalogue imminent) and the universities
hadn’t changed their catalogue search defaults (due to confusion with
electronic resource access). Despite ILL decreasing slightly, 63% of
total ILL were sourced within LINC (saving partners £45k+) and BLDSC supplied:
-
8%
of LINC partner total ILL (bit of a decrease from 40%, sorry BLDSC!)
-
0.6%
of total authority partner loans, amounting to 65 items, which has crashed down.
However,
these figures only tell half the story; savings are potentially double. Capturing
the number of ILL between public library partners that share catalogues (i.e. ILL
between Anglesey, Conwy and Gwynedd public libraries; and ILL between Denbighshire
and Flintshire public libraries) is extremely tedious and time-consuming, so,
figuring there are better ways for staff to spend their time and more
responsible ways to spend the taxpayer’s money, we don’t do it! Educated
guesses from ILL staff put the number of books within the “thousands and
thousands” per annum, so, whatever numbers have been thrown around in this post,
you can probably conservatively add another 3,000-4,000 items per annum that
are not recorded in the current ILL figures.
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| Pixabay |
Further
cost-savings come from postage and packaging. Postage cost, there is none. Packaging
is reused repeatedly (and I mean repeatedly! It’s not unusual to see envelopes/boxes
with label upon label upon label sellotaped on top of each other (actually,
scrap piece of paper upon scrap piece of paper upon scrap piece of paper etc.!),
which is more environmentally responsible too!
The next question that may be floating around heads of discerning readers
who have made it through this blog post so far, is, if not via postage, how are
the thousands of books that float around the north Wales region transported.
The answer will follow in a mo, it may first be of interest to you that we do
not depend on grants to maintain LINC, it’s self-sustaining; and the added cost
for the LINC delivery mechanism was, and remains, minimal. The cost per item
delivered was examined in 2011, working out at 0.57p per item, including staff
time. So, to address any questions re delivery...
A delivery network of vans created by tweaking existing delivery routes, connects
the libraries across the region. This was my first role for the NWLP. All I had
to do was work out how to transport an item from A to B quickly. It involved
introducing hubs, interchanges and sites for main hubs/sub-hubs/request stops to
ensure onward connections. Working with existing systems kept added costs to a
minimum and provided a robust, sustainable delivery mechanism that connected
the libraries across the region. Though fuel has increased since 2011, ILL has
also increased, which is great as it brings the cost per item delivered down
further. Plus, savings outweigh the extra mileage and working within existing systems meant that our
carbon footprint barely increased.
Perhaps
readers may question how universities/colleges benefit from the partnership. The
universities joined LINC to reach students living at a distance from the
institutes, students on placements (e.g. nursing/social work), distance and
part-time learners, and offer their students a better service by increasing the
resources on offer (it also served to engage communities and widen access to
their collections, but as that is not so relevant here and it’s hard to find a
smooth link, I thought I’d bang it in brackets!). Bangor and Glyndŵr
Universities also borrow approximately 1,500 items per annum from each other,
as well as sourcing items from LINC public/college/specialist libraries (many
stock key academic textbooks). Glyndŵr Uni borrows 93%+ of all ILL through
LINC; Bangor University, 58-70% within LINC.
Some FE
colleges borrow 100% of their ILL within LINC, and we’re talking a few hundred
items. And public library staff have reported noticeable cost decreases, with
some borrowing few ILL outside the partnership.
Here, I
will re-cap and, perhaps, pre-empt your next possible ponderings/concerns…
-
Consortiums
are sustainable, environmentally responsible, widen access to collections and provide
a better service to your customers, no matter what your sector;
-
Consortiums
can help you save the equivalent of every ILL charge plus return postage, minus
charges to the customer, e.g. if your service does not charge the customer,
you’re saving the full going CONARLS/BLDSC rate (sorry BLDSC!) minus the item
delivery cost, which can be as little as 0.57p or even less!;
-
LINC is not the only ILL consortium in Wales so there is more
than one model should you
wish to consider consortiums further. One regional partnership uses a courier, which is
also very cost effective;
-
84%
of 394 test journeys were delivered in same-3 days; 94% within a week. Our customers
are very happy, we’ve done surveys!;
-
Procedures
are pragmatic and simple (item is ordered via respective internal procedures,
taken off the shelf, labelled and put on the respective delivery van);
-
Paperwork,
minimal;
-
Financial
admin, diddly squat (staff love us for that!);
-
Partners
retain their own policies (e.g. restrictions, loan periods, number of books
etc.);
-
No,
you would not suddenly be left with empty shelves and a limited selection for
your regular customers, you actually have more to offer them;
-
No,
you would not suddenly be swamped with thousands of requests you don’t have the
staff capacity to deal with, it takes three years before ILL increases
noticeably and simplified ILL procedures save time anyway!;
-
If you want to know more, get in touch!
I will end
this post from a personal perspective. I’m doing a distance learning MSc
with Aberystwyth University and I use LINC myself. I can order the vast
majority of textbooks I need in the local library or online, and I don’t have to stray
far from my own front door to pick them up (in fact I'm expecting some to arrive today!). Or, I can drive to the nearest college or university
to get the textbook I need immediately. It saves me a whole world of pain and I have more time to write assignments, in between lengthy blog posts, although it wouldn’t be a wish wasted if I
wished I could write 1,700 words for an assignment as quickly as I can knock them up for a blog. Maybe I have found my calling and a new cyber-social-banter-blogger has been born!
Enjoy the weekend.
Hwyl (goodbye in Welsh) 'til next time,
Claudia
