As I write this blog post, I’m reflecting on a question that’s been quietly simmering in my
head: How do we evolve interlibrary loan (ILL)?
Here in Florida, we were fortunate to receive IMLS grant funds that helped subsidize our
statewide courier service — a lifeline for delivering ILL books quickly and affordably. But
now that those funds have sunset, we’re facing a new reality: rising shipping costs,
shrinking budgets, and a growing need to rethink how we share resources.
ILL has always been about access — getting the right materials to the right people,
regardless of where they live or study. But physical book loans come with real costs:
packaging, postage, staff time, and wear and tear. As those costs rise, libraries are
asking: Can we shift even more toward digital delivery without compromising service? If
so, what does that look like?
Is there a way to design Primo so that patrons can request a table of contents instead of
the entire book? Could we make it easier for users to browse chapter titles and select
just the section they need — especially when a full book loan might not be necessary or
cost-effective?
This leads to another question: What percentage of our MARC records actually include
complete table of contents data? If we want to support chapter-level discovery and
fulfillment, we need to understand how much metadata we’re working with — and where
the gaps are.
These are the kinds of questions I’d love to explore with the ELUNA community and
beyond. How do we evolve ILL to be more sustainable, more digital, and more intuitive?
How can RapidILL help us get there? And how do we ensure that access — not format
— remains at the heart of what we do?
Let’s start the conversation.
