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

ILL goes on a ‘Speed Update’

The New Year is a good time to try new things, and last week I was invited to take interlending on a ‘speed update’.  The New Year has brought several small changes to procedure so it was a good opportunity to inform of my colleagues of these changes.  The world of ‘speed updating’ was new to me so I needed some advice form colleagues.   There were only two rules for ‘speed updating’

                       

·        You only had 5minutes to get your points across

·        How you did this had to be creative

With help from my manager I opted for a storytelling approach.  To give you a flavour of what this entailed my opening sentence was ‘Once upon a time there were Inter-library loans staff at LSE Library who were keen to develop and improve their services’.  My manager did a prezi presentation to get the key points across in a visual way to complement the storytelling.  I practiced the presentation a few times with a stopwatch to make sure it would fit into the allotted 5 minutes.

The hardest part of the day was keeping my voice going.  I ended up having to do the 5 minute presentation 10 times as there were 5 teams for each updater to see and a morning and afternoon session.  Once the presentations were over tea and cake were provided for a networking session.  This was a chance to chat to colleagues that I don’t often see.

Picture from LSE Library Staff Bulletin

It was rewarding to see colleagues from all parts of the library engage with interlending.  The questions asked showed the interest there was in interlending, and that the value of the service is recognised by many. 

Happy New Year to all ILLers.

Karen