“Resource Sharing (alternately known as Interlibrary Loan) is a core library service because no library owns all resources to meet their patrons’ needs. This is particularly the case when patrons need resources in foreign languages for teaching, research, publication, or leisure reading. Some foreign publications may not be available outside that country or region. Libraries around the world have relied on collaborative international resource sharing partnerships to support their diverse user populations and fulfill their patrons’ needs.
International resource sharing can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be! This session will navigate you through the International ILL Toolkit, a free online resource created by the OCLC SHARES resource sharing consortium, and maintained by American Library Association (ALA) Reference & User Service Association (RUSA) International Interlibrary Loan Committee members. You will also learn tips and tricks on using the International ILL Toolkit to better facilitate your institution’s international resource sharing borrowing and lending activities; building your institution’s international resource sharing network; helping you get the most out of the Toolkit’s many resources; and discovering future plans for the Toolkit.
As discovery options increase and local collection budgets continue to shrink, the value of global resource sharing rises. After this session participants will be better at: Finding catalog records for titles in foreign languages (even non-roman alphabets) Locating holding libraries, around the world (even outside of OCLC FirstSearch) Requesting from foreign libraries, using pre-translated request forms in a dozen different languages Discovering tips and tricks to make international resource sharing easier.” – link to presentation
Presented at the Northwest Interlibrary Loan & Resource Sharing Conference (2024) by:
- lapis cohen, Library Specialist, University of Pennsylvania
- Xuan (Lily) Pang, Chair of Access and Resource Sharing, University of Florida
- Renna Redd, Interlibrary Loan Librarian, Clemson University