THE IMPACT OF THE OCLC INTERLIBRARY LOAN SUBSYSTEM ON ARL LIBRARIES (RESOURCE SHARING, LENDING, DOCUMENT DELIVERY, AUTOMATION)

This study investigated the impact of OCLC and its Interlibrary Loan Subsystem (ILL Subsystem) on interlibrary loan services among libraries of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) since its introduction in 1979.;The major data gathering instrument was a questionnaire which was mailed to 77 ARL institutions participating in the OCLC ILL Subsystem as of February 1, 1984. Sixty-eight questionnaires were returned. Interviews were conducted with library directors and interlibrary loan librarians in three selected libraries.;During the period 1978/1979 and 1982/1983, productivity--measured by the number of borrowing and lending transactions handled per staff hour--increased by 21 percent. This resulted from a 35 percent increase in total volume of borrowing and lending transactions, and an increase of 12 percent in staff hours.;One third of the interlibrary loan services have been reorganized since 1979. Staffing changes involved primarily an increased use of student assistants. By 1983, libraries employed student assistants for an average of 50 hours per week, compared to 39 hours prior to Subsystem participation. Most libraries (74 percent) continued to have a professional librarian involved in interlibrary loan services, devoting an average of 24.5 hours per week to those tasks.;The study focused on five areas: productivity, organization and staffing, patterns of interlibrary borrowing and lending, attitudes toward OCLC and the ILL Subsystem, and use of the OCLC Online Union Catalog in interlibrary loan services.;Trends indicate increased borrowing and lending activities between ARL libraries and small and medium-sized academic libraries, public libraries, and special libraries.;By 1983 the OCLC Online Union Catalog had become the most important bibliographical tool in interlibrary loan services in ARL libraries participating in the Subsystem, but had not fully replaced the printed catalogs.;Most respondents (73 percent) had positive attitudes toward OCLC even before they participated in the OCLC ILL Subsystem. After four years' experience with the Subsystem, the positive rating increased to 87.8 percent. Written comments by respondents clearly indicate that they think that participation in the OCLC ILL Subsystem has resulted in improved interlibrary loan services to their patrons, but also has led to significant increases in interlibrary lending.