DAILY

I worked Sunday with Cindy in the computer room. She like Debbie was a person I was comfortable with and was familiar with from my visits to the library. After about 20 minutes of her walking me around and talking about her day to day operations I was amazed at how much we shared in common. The same types of troubleshooting the same types of issues, the same type of tending and details.

My existence today was to learn the in's and out's of Inter-Library Loan. I was inundated with details and paperwork. It didn't take long to understand the process however the hoops required each step of the way seemed an exercise in obsessive compusiveness. Thoroughness and organization are major components to being a successful ILL institution. Cindy is largely responsible for their top 20 in the State status. She's gone the extra mile in creating an Access database to track all the comings and goings. I can easily see why people, institutions, and directors decide to spend their staff efforts and time doing other tasks.

Cindy was nice enough to include me in each step of the process explaining along the way the why, what, and how each aspect was connected and what "they" over the years had discovered was the best method. Seeing this was a daily operational duty Cindy was quite the streamlined machine in processing requests and fullfilling orders. I learned how the requests come to PPL and how responses were pushed back to libraries who've requested. I helped locate requested titles on the shelf, print papers for processing, tag INCOLSA bags, update the Access database, and update the electronic manifest. Also I took part in processing books and materials for return to other libraries. When we were finished Cindy showed me the beginning stages of a request.

I wonder how much inclusion in OCLC's website costs? It seemed really slick, smooth, and cool how Worldcat allowed for networking and ILL.

The thought came to me how many people actually do ILL instead of purchasing materials. It seems the younger generation is more apt to wanting to own instead of wanting to borrow. Folks my generation seem to want things free of cost. If we are forced to pay for something we seem more apt to want ownership of an item.