Old Mind, New Mind: The University of Washington Libraries, Worldcat Local and Interlibrary Loan

Thomas Deardorff, Head of Access Services, University of Washington Libraries, USA

The University of Washington Libraries, in collaboration with OCLC, initiated a pilot project in April 2007 that resulted in the creation and launch of a new discovery and delivery platform called WorldCat Local. It provides one simple search interface for multiple discovery tools including local, regional and international catalogs and article databases. Delivery of resources is also integrated with links to electronic resources and online request forms for hardcopy material. User response has been favorable with many people commenting on the ease of use and ready access to online content.

As library users became aware of more non-digital content, consortial and interlibrary loan requests have skyrocketed. The number of filled requests from our regional consortia was up 64% and interlibrary loan was up 123% in the first year. This huge increase in workload and related increase in costs has initiated a discussion about the role of ILL and access to materials that challenges many of our long held assumptions about collections and services and the organization of the library.

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