Peg -

The first is what read like a question on your part, about  free access
to Cochrane. We get outs through payment to Ovid.  But it is slow. No
2007 documents as yet, even if some already appear in the "pre-Medline".
Also, one cannot get copies of old Cochrane documents - the old ones get
pulled when an update appears. There have been requests for both types
of late - old and very new.

And the other thin I'm puzzled over - where did we, the librarians, get
the idea that it is our job to get our customers free articles????  I
see our job as getting it for them.  The issue of costs is a necessary
evil, imposed by publishers and/or mostly Academic libraries that want
to be reimbursed for whatever.   I have no argument with either,
business is business and has rules.  The problem is that Hospital
administrators do not play by the same rules, and do not cooperate with
the Librarian who needs to be able to pay for articles that are for the
patient's /hospital benefit.  

But  when the librarian explains and budgets the ILL out of pocket, and
the Administrator cuts it our, something "got to give".  Doctors do not
command the same power as they once had in hospitals, and would rather
not pay out of pocket for materials, even when they have grants.  Or are
"Expert Witnesses"  and bill the lawyers high hourly fees, including a
per article fee that some client down the line pays.  The Librarian
often times does not know what the materials is intended for, when by
all rights the one to underwrite the costs ought to be the asking
physician.   So the way I am evaluating the situation is that as a
group, we are a timid lot,  continuing to agonize over the fees for
interlibrary loan, instead of holding our heads high and  saying "if you
want it, there is going to be a fee attached. - and how do you propose
to pay for it? ".   

 I often hear "but it is a nurse, or a physical therapist, and she does
not have money".  That might true, but does not solve the problem.  If
the article is for a Committee, than it is the higher ups that ought to
pay, or NOT get the information, etc.  Someone within the organization
needs to be presented with the problem and come to a Corporate decision
- "either the organization pays, or our people and patients go without".
Not the Librarian's responsibility.  

Sorry, folks -  I am very hard nosed over this issue.   We do not have
budgeted funds for out of pocket ILL - but many years ago I got the
Clinical Departments to agree to underwrite the costs, and it has been
working just fine, and other hospital departments have been added, like
Pastoral Care and Administration and Nursing and Physical Therapy.  We
charge a flat fee per any item that we ILL - it evens out.  We also
charge a "PDF" fee for articles that we have in the Library but that
doctors want in PDF format, and we scan and forward to them computer to
computer - we do same with ILL - or for articles that we HAVE full text
but that they do not want to bother to download themselves.   We do not
disclose individual users' names, just overall usage statistics.  This
gets compiled monthly, and then once a year I tally the whole thing and
we do an internal cost -transfer fro the various departments account
into the Library's "revenue" account.  This year it's at $14,000 per ILL
and $5,000 per copy/PDF.    It nicely covers the reality of the
out-of-pocket costs, plus part of the salary of the photocopier/scanner.

I do not charge other libraries for ILL requests.  However, if your
library charges, then we will respond in kind,  and we work with the EFT
system - it's great.

Some of the above is a repeat of stuff I already said before.  But a lot
has been said before, and unfortunately I do not see may librarians
solving such problems.  Mine is just my solution.   But please stop
crying that you have no money for ILL> It is not your money - and ought
not to be your problem -  You do what you can with what  is given you or
with what you mange to get others to give you.  

Dalia Kleinmuntz, M.L.S. 
Director of Webster Library & ENH Library Resources
Evanston Hospital, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare
847-570-2664 (voice)
847-570-2926 (fax)                  [log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask] (personal)
 
Opinions expressed are my own and do not reflect those of ENH.