The average cost of a borrowing interlibrary loan transaction is $17.50, according to the ARL study done in 2002. It can be argued that this money could be spent to result in something more tangible at the end of the transaction. This presentation will discuss some of the alternatives to obtaining material not owned by your library for your patrons by using methods other than traditional interlibrary loan. Purchasing the book for addition to your collection is becoming more widespread and they are several ways this can be done: taking advantage of vendors such as Alibris to purchase via OCLC; purchasing through your acquisitions department and allowing the patron to have the book before cataloging; or purchasing through your acquisitions department and cataloging the book before circulating it. All result in the library owning a book with a guaranteed circulation transaction.
UMI/ProQuest allows you to purchase an unbound/shrink-wrapped copy of a dissertation for your patron at a discounted rate of $29 with a turnaround time of 3-5 days. This is particular helpful in obtaining dissertations that your library does not want to purchase to add to the collection and the lending library will not send (or it is checked out for a long-term loan or lost).
Videos and other audio-visual materials have always been difficult to obtain via Interlibrary Loan because of strict lending policies. Netflix can fill this need in a timely manner. By setting up an account, they can be treated as another potential lender at a cost comparable to what an interlibrary loan transaction costs.
CISTI e-books is a new concept proposed recently in which CISTI will provide access to electronic books, for a fee of course, which significantly cuts done the turnaround time and costs associated with shipping a physical item.
The session will wrap up with questions and answers as well as a sharing section in which others can contribute what they are doing at their libraries.