Having it all: using RapidILL for book chapter interlending

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe how RapidILL expanded its service offerings from expedited requesting and delivery of journal articles to include delivery of book chapters as well.

Design/methodology/approach

The author uses a case study approach to provide an overview of the RapidILL service, the service advantages inherent in its system design, and how the system was modified to accommodate requesting and delivery of book chapters.

Findings

The challenges that RapidILL member libraries anticipated did not materialize; the system set up required for requesting and supplying book chapters is largely the same as for supplying journal articles. The resulting fill rate and turnaround time for book chapters compares favorably with that of journal articles.

Originality/value

The RapidILL book chapter service has been in place for approximately a year at the time of writing. This paper introduces a fairly new service, provides data from a key participating library, and will be of interest to interlending practitioners who use or are interesting in joining RapidILL. Interlending system designers will also find the discussion of the underlying architecture useful.

Citation

MacWaters, C. (2013), "Having it all: using RapidILL for book chapter interlending", Interlending & Document Supply, Vol. 41 No. 3, pp. 87-89. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILDS-06-2013-0017