OCLC ILLiad

While libraries advanced with online public access catalogs (OPACs), online indexes, and electronic journals, interlibrary loan (ILL) departments lagged behind in technology until fairly recently. Thankfully, some enterprising software developers at Virginia Tech created ILLiad to help struggling ILL departments survive under increasing workload demands. As the software evolved, the developers branched off and formed their own company, Atlas Systems, which was subsequently purchased by OCLC. Designed to improve the efficiency of the ILL process, ILLiad decreases turnaround time, maintains copyright records, tracks financial records, produces statistics reports, and facilitates electronic delivery.

From the reviewers' experience, ILLiad works almost flawlessly with OCLC in both lending and borrowing, so the focus of this review will be on how well ILLiad works with DOCLINE and Loansome Doc.

With ILLiad, the lending processes for both OCLC and DOCLINE are very similar. ILLiad produces clear, well-organized lending pull slips in alphabetical or call number order, integrating requests downloaded from both OCLC and DOCLINE. Importing of lending requests from DOCLINE to ILLiad is easy when using Internet Explorer. However, imports are problematic with some versions of Netscape, and requests may be lost. Billing, invoicing, and tracking of DOCLINE lending requests is very easy with ILLiad, which simplifies record keeping significantly. However, ILLiad lacks a mechanism to automatically update DOCLINE requests, which means requests must be updated in both ILLiad and DOCLINE. Finally, Loansome Doc requests must be imported into the ILLiad borrowing module, which may cause workflow problems if the majority of requests are filled inhouse.

Borrowing via DOCLINE is generally problem-free but uploading requests from ILLiad into DOCLINE is not as seamless as it is with OCLC. Several fields, such as referral reason and need-by date, are not transferred and must be manually entered in DOCLINE for each request. Other than these hindrances, using ILLiad has many benefits. For example, if the MEDLINE UI is available, it can easily be uploaded from ILLiad to DOCLINE to locate the correct citation. Also, request numbers and the LIBIDs of potential lending libraries are imported directly into the ILLiad record. When items are received electronically, ILL staff can use ILLiad to email documents or post them to a Web server for patron download. Articles received in paper format or held in local collections can also be scanned for electronic delivery using the ILLiad patron interface.

ILLiad's copyright maintenance is a great improvement over manual record keeping. However, it is important to remember that titles need to be uniform throughout, because spelling errors, punctuation changes, and differences in capitalization confuse ILLiad, which considers each entry as a separate journal title. For the most part, this is not a problem with OCLC because ILLiad imports the cataloged title directly from OCLC, making the records consistent. However, DOCLINE uses title abbreviations, and ILLiad cannot match these to the full titles found in OCLC. ILL staff who use both OCLC and DOCLINE must match and total requests from both systems. Considering the improvements to service and work flow, these problems seem insignificant to any ILL office that has experienced the burden of paper requests and illegible handwriting.

One convenient feature is the billing module that can be customized to fit a library's billing pattern. It generates invoices, tracks payments, and interfaces well with ILL records. Though the billing module works with DOCLINE's electronic fund transfer system (EFTS), it does have some inconveniences that do not occur with OCLC's ILL fee management service (IFM). For example, each time a library is added to ILLiad, a completely different screen in ILLiad must be opened to indicate that EFTS is the billing method, creating a cumbersome process. Atlas staff members are working on this irksome issue. ILLiad keeps EFTS information in a separate file that can be emailed to the EFTS office in Connecticut.

Patrons enjoy ILLiad, because it allows them to view the entire ILL process from start to finish, which in the past was a mystery. Automatic electronic processing of articles is very popular because of the clarity of the copy combined with the convenience of desktop delivery. ILLiad also automatically emails patrons when requests are available, saving staff time. The most puzzling tracking term for patrons is “Request sent,” meaning sent out to a library. Patrons often interpret this to mean that the article or book has arrived and is being “sent” via their preferred delivery method.

ILLiad is a server-based program that requires Microsoft Windows Server, Internet Information Server, and SQL Server. The ILLiad client program is installed on staff workstations. Installing and maintaining an ILLiad server requires systems staff support. For an additional fee, Atlas provides server hosting, removing all need to install and maintain servers onsite. Due to the cost and time invested for implementation and maintenance, ILLiad software is more advantageous for libraries with a large volume of interlibrary loans.

In the past, Atlas responded fairly quickly to problems, but since OCLC bought the company, technical support became slower. Contacting Atlas directly receives a quicker response than going through OCLC's User & Network Support. ILLiad also has an email list for peer support. This list is a good way to ask other ILLiad librarians for assistance with problems or to vent frustration. Medical librarians on the email list are willing to help and share their experiences with others.

Overall ILLiad's positives outweigh the negatives. As more medical and health sciences libraries acquire ILLiad, OCLC and Atlas will work to eliminate the DOCLINE and Loansome Doc incompatibilities.