BONUS A USER INITIATED RESOURCE SHARING PROJECT

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BONUS - A USER INITIATED RESOURCE SHARING PROJECT

• NSW Resource Sharing Interest Group
• Interlending and Document Delivery Workshop
• September 18, 2007
• Katie Wilson
• BONUS Project Co-ordinator

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Project background

• 2004 UNISON sponsored project to investigate
  unmediated monograph requesting
• Working Group selected INN-Reach resource sharing
  software from Innovative Interfaces
• CSU/UNILINC, UNSW, UNewcastle, UTS libraries
  participated
• BONUS (Books of Nsw UniversitieS) launched 20
  July 2005 with CSU, UoN, UTS
• UNSW participated for 2006 academic year

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Central BONUS catalogue

• Each library selects material to contribute to
  central union catalogue, defined in profile
  worksheets
• Low use monographs contributed
• Early decision to include only items available
  for loan not material on order, e-books,
  serials (although system does allow)
• Changed, new, deleted records are contributed
  according to profile

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Direct Consortial Borrowing (DCB)

• Second server interfaced with ExLibris Aleph
  library systems (CSU, UNSW) which acts as a local
  library server
• Records loaded to the DCB and from there
  automatically to the BONUS central server

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Shared circulation policies

• Borrowing free to all students and staff, and
  University Libraries Australia (ULA) borrowers
  registered at any participating library
• ULA joining fee waived for BONUS participating
  library registrants
• Loan period of 21 days with one renewal subject
  to recall by the owning libraries
• Undergraduates allowed 5 concurrent BONUS
  requests, 10 for postgraduates and staff
• Overdue notices and fines managed at local
  library level
• Replacement fee for lost item 125.00

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Features of unmediated requesting

• Ease of use transfer searches from local to
  central union catalogue
• Pickup location nominated by clients
• System automates decision about selecting from
  available copies (based on availability, load
  balancing) 
• Load balancing regulates requesting using
  priorities
• Virtual patron/item records exchanged without
  need to re-key records

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Search local OPAC click BONUS icon
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Search carried over to BONUS, no rekeying needed
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Request the item, select local library
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Enter authorisation and select pickup location
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Requesting of items available for loan in local
catalogue not allowed
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Resource availability

• By Dec 2006 central BONUS catalogue held
  1,661,345, titles with 2,207,996 copies
• 75 of those titles were unique
• Pool of collection items extended for each
  library
• 15-30 requests were for items held locally but
  on loan
• Alternative to large scale duplication of
  collections

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Unique titles contributed
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Lending and borrowing

• Between July 20, 2005 and July 30, 2007
• 17,449 requests made through BONUS
• 14,492 requests fulfilled
• University of Newcastle highest borrower
• CSU highest lender, followed by UTS
• Undergraduates highest users, then staff
• CSU staff usage greater than student usage

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Subject analysis

• Mar-07
  Apr-07
• 300 Social sciences 41.5 37
• 600 Technology 18.5 18
• 700 the Arts 10.6 15
• Similar patterns at individual libraries

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Impact on ILL

• UTS and UoN showed a decrease in ILL requesting
  from 2005 to 2006
• CSU ILL increased in 2006 when free ILL
  introduced, but BONUS requests were more than
  double ILL

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BONUS ILL comparison

• Measurement BONUS ILL
• Unit Cost 8.16
  10.97
• Turnaround Time (days) 3.89 6.8
• Fill Rate 84
  92
• (figures from CSU, UNewcastle and UTS)

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Interaction with local systems

• Interaction direct between BONUS and Innovative
  local systems at UoN, UTS
• Less direct between BONUS and DCB ExLibris sites
  CSU and UNSW resulting in double handling
• Batch uploading of changed records to DCB meant
  delays in updates to BONUS catalogue

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Client survey feedback

• 93 strongly agreed BONUS is a good way to
  obtain materials
• 75 strongly agreed that more libraries
  participating in BONUS would be useful
• 33 strongly agreed that information about BONUS
  was easy to find
• 23 agreed that including material in BONUS that
  can't be requested would be useful

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Project Outcomes

• Proof of concept and acceptability of the project
  was demonstrated
• BONUS complements traditional Interlibrary Loan
  and supplements individual library monograph
  collections
• Publicity and marketing essential for maximum
  usage
• NCIP standard recommended for better
  interoperability with other ILMS

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BONUS PLUS

• A new phase for BONUS (PLUS!)
• Four Victorian libraries Ballarat, Deakin,
  Melbourne, VU join UTS and U of Newcastle
• 12 month project begins 26 September 2007
• Investigating regional loans and wider geographic
  coverage
• Evaluate and monitor during the 12 months

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Thank you!

• Questions?
• katie.wilson_at_uts.edu.au

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Impact on libraries

• Worked smoothly for Innovative libraries,
  integrating into existing workflows
• Uploading of updated bib and item records to
  BONUS central catalogue is automatic
• Paging, retrieving and lending items works like
  inter-campus or branch loans
• Items sent through Australia Post
• Delivery was 2-4 days