Editor’s note: This is the latest in a series of what’s going on at the Pima County Public Library.
The library is a busy place. Walk into any one of our 26 locations and you’ll not only see shelves of books and people using computers, but you’ll also see:
- Children dancing during story time or reading to a dog.
- Local authors giving a talk.
- Public health nurses taking someone’s blood pressure.
- Public screenings of a film from one of our streaming services.
It takes a lot of work to run a library. The people you see helping with events and assisting customers are not the only staff who help keep the library running. There’s the friendly folks who buy the books, the people who make sure all of our locations are up-to-date and well cared for, and those who manage the online catalog. I’m one of those people behind the scenes.
Do you want J.A. Jance’s newest release delivered to our Nanini Library? No problem — just place a hold and request the location. Did you hear about a soon-to-be-released book on NPR and want to make sure the library has it when it comes out? Be sure to use our form to suggest a purchase.
You might be thinking these are great services for new books, but you may want something that’s older and maybe even out of print. Can we get that? We’ll certainly try! That’s where the fun part of my job begins.
The service is called Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and it’s just one more awesome way the library dedicates time and resources to best serving our customers. Let’s say you’re looking for “Sedona Power Spot, Vortex & Medicine Wheel Guide” by Richard Dannelley. Just because we don’t have it doesn’t mean we won’t try to get it. Remember microfilm? ILL even includes that. We can also get copies of journal articles.
I hope I’ve piqued your interest and you’re wondering how it works. It’s simple. You request something we don’t have or can’t add to our collection, and we check with other libraries nationwide to request that they lend it to us for you to borrow. As with everything, there are some rules to the ILL service (for example, no more than six active requests at a time and no renewals), but overall it’s quite straightforward. And, guess what? There’s no limit to the number of requests you can make in a year!
My job in a nutshell is to provide access to information — something I consider essential in today’s world. Here are just a few of the reasons I think ILL is so important:
- Not everyone can afford to purchase out-of-print books or large print editions when their library or local bookstore doesn’t stock it.
- Journal subscriptions can be prohibitively expensive
- The service is not just for research materials. Requests can be on all topics – we get quite a few for out-of-print romance.
Sometimes I think ILL is not a well-known service, but here’s something to consider. Last year alone, we borrowed nearly 11,500 items for our customers. That’s close to 32 items every day of the year. Wondering where all these materials come from? Those 11,500 items made their way from 300 different libraries — some public, some academic, and even a few government libraries like the Army Intelligence Center and the Jet Propulsion Lab.
ILL is a two-way street. We also lend books to other libraries. On average, we lend approximately 2,000 books annually to libraries nationwide. We tend to receive requests for regional materials, like the archaeological journal KIVA and cookbooks about preparing foods made from mesquite — unsurprising given our recent designation as a City of Gastronomy.
Since photocopies can be emailed, we do fulfill the occasional international request. I’ve sent articles to South Korea, South Africa, and Mexico, among others countries.
The Southwest is such a unique place to live and I feel a sense of pride sharing its uniqueness with other parts of the U.S. and the world.
