March 7, 2008
To: MOBAC Administrative Council
From: MOBAC ILL Committee
System Consolidation Concerns – Summary
- What are the ways in which this consolidation will help MOBAC? It’s not obvious to the ILL Committee how it will help provide better interlibrary loan service to our patrons.
- It is very important for the ILL Committee to continue to meet every other month for sharing and problem-solving.
- What new responsibilities would the ILL Committee assume in a consolidation? Will funding still be available for ILL training activities and workshops?
- Being a multi-type system is one of Mobac’s strengths, and we need to continue to meet the differing needs of our members.
- Maintaining a reliable, timely, and efficient delivery service is a high priority.
If participating in a much larger consortium compromises our ability to provide priority lending to, and borrowing from local libraries, then service to our patrons will suffer. ILL Committee meetings afford members the opportunity to discuss issues and solve problems in a peer-to-peer environment that isn’t duplicated elsewhere, and the end result of this sharing is better service.