Union listing is the process of creating records and updating the volumes, years, etc. Keeping your LDRs up to date impacts ILL requests positively, since a borrowing library will check the holdings of a potential lender to make sure the lender has the appropriate volume or year. Incorrect or old data causes superfluous ILL requests and wastes time and money. SPAN libraries represent a true multi-type group. SPAN libraries include academic, school, corporate, public, hospital, and special libraries.
Libraries range from large academics to small publics.
For a complete list of libraries whose data is currently represented in SPAN, refer to the List of SPAN Libraries. Currently, the SPAN database is pulled from OCLC once a year on August 1st. All changes to holdings information on OCLC must be completed either in the OCLC Union Listing Subsystem or in your local system and loaded into the OCLC Union Listing Subsystem by July 30th for the August run. In addition to providing Michigan libraries and citizens with access to the serial holdings of records in Michigan libraries, SPAN also provides end users the ability to initiate interlibrary loan requests from their homes or offices. In addition, since searching SPAN is free , use of the database will help encourage regional resource sharing and will save libraries OCLC Union Listing Subsystem searching, display holdings, and telecommunications charges.