From: fr@compu.com (Fred Rump from home)
Subject: Re: What's MELVYL? [was: wow! (Re: FirstSearch)]
Organization: CompuData Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 25 Dec 1992 21:31:48 GMT
Keywords: MELVYL, Libraries

lib1p@jane.uh.edu (Tammy Stark Blandino) writes:

>>It seems that CA will not send books out of state. This also explains that
>>what I've received has always come from other states here on the east coast.
>>

>That's not true.  I am an ILL person in Texas and we get material from
>California.  The problem is that California charges such outrageous fees
>for loaning materials out of state.  Most ILL offices cannot afford to
>pay these kinds of fees.  CA mandates that CA libraries get loans for free,
>but out of state libraries get charged $20.00 per book loan!
>As a result we use CA as a last resort.

I use the county library where I pay library taxes. The ILL person told me 
that CA does not provide out-of-state loans. It may be that they were written 
off long ago because of their policies against the rest of the US. Maybe we 
should all jump together once and that fault to finally make a real crack so 
that the state can really be off by itself in the ocean somewhere. :-) Maybe 
if we asked all the Chinese people to help? Only takes a sec.

>It may be that your ILL office can't accept payment.  I know we don't.  Are
>you using a public library or a universty library?  Also remember that MOST
>genealogical materials do not circulate (you can't check them out).  As a
>result it is very difficult to get these materials.

I've not really found anything specific to genealogy just yet. Mostly it's 
history and dissertations on some aspect thereof that may involve people and 
lists of them in indexes.

My library does accept money for the ILL fees. I'll have to find out what the 
story is on CA.



>In the future you may ask for a photocopy of the table of contents or index.
>From these pages you can deterimine (sometimes) what you want.  Copyright law
>allows you to photocopy up to 1 chapter from a book.

OK, thanks. I'll try that.

>Another option is to join AGLL, American Genealogical Lending Library, or your
>ILL office could join (like we did).

Ah, this is good. Something good always comes from these discussions.



>University of Houston doesn't charge for loans to anyone in our consortium or
>the access group  (HARLiC and Amigos repectively).  We are lucky enough to have
>a director whose whole focus is accessibilty to information.  You have to loan
>in order to get others to loan to you.

That's nice and is what I call cooperation. Obviously there are people at the 
top who care about the bottom line of accessibility. Wish we had more of them.


>This has come about because of money problems.  In most libraries, ILL is
>treated as a minor concern, almost like a stepchild.  They are underfunded and
>understaffed.  And if they have one OCLC terminal to themselves they are lucky.

>As a result, libraries are raising their fees more and more.  What they don't
>realize is that they are cutting off their nose to spite their face.

>Tammy the ILL person

I'm so glad you are not upset with my criticism of the system as it stands. 
You obviously have a feel for what is wrong. As a result of your post I will 
write a letter to our Library director and let him/her know that there are 
some of us out here who appreciate the ILL service more than they know. 
Perhaps letters like that from the public will influence funding a little.

Fred

PS Thanks for your understanding post.
-- 
W. Fred Rump 	office:	   fred@COMPU.COM     'mans feet have grown/so big 
26 Warren St.   home: fred@icdi10.compu.com  that he/forgets his littleness'
Beverly, NJ. 08010                          		Don Marquis 
609-386-6846    bang:uunet!cdin-1!icdi10!fr   
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