| 21. | The Hennepin County Library supports the delivery of information services through interlibrary loans, public access to telephones and photocopiers, telefacsimile transmissions, and by responding to mail requests. |
| Guidelines |
| 21.1 | Interlibrary loans (ILL) greatly expand the range of materials available to library users. An ILL is a transaction in which library material, or a copy of the material, is sent from one library system to another upon request. When a user requests material not available in HCL, staff may initiate an ILL request. |
| 21.1.1 | Users will be advised that ILL requests may take 2-6 weeks or longer to fill. | ||
| 21.1.2 | Requests for materials, regardless of format, may be submitted. Availability is determined by the circulation policies of the lending libraries. | ||
| 21.1.3 | Federal census records, passenger lists, and military records on microfilm may be borrowed from the American Genealogical Lending Library (AGLL). For efficiency of service and use of equipment, users must submit their requests in person at one of the area libraries. Users are responsible for AGLL fees. |
| 21.2 | Telephones are available to library users. |
| 21.2.1 | Public pay telephones are available in most libraries for personal phone calls. | ||
| 21.2.2 | Library users without money for the public pay telephone may use the designated library line for a quick (less than two minutes) personal call. | ||
| 21.2.3 | Courtesy telephones may be available for users to facilitate the completion of information requests. |
| 21.3 | Library users have access to photocopying machines or services which allow them to obtain photocopies of library material. |
| 21.3.1 | Coin-operated photocopying machines are available to in-person library users. | ||
| 21.3.2 | Library users seeking photocopying services will be referred to the copy center located at the Southdale Area Library. |
| 21.4 | The purpose of telefacsimile (fax) transmission is to improve access to library materials which are not available at the local library and to increase the delivery speed of information to library users. |
| 21.4.1 | Intralibrary fax transmissions will be made if: the material to be faxed is unavailable at the point of inquiry, the user has a deadline (usually within three days), the material to be faxed is brief (less than ten pages), and the format permits a clear transmission.
Requests for intralibrary fax transmissions must be made by information services staff. Requests for intralibrary fax transmissions from users will be referred back to their local libraries. Periodical articles (ten pages or less) may be faxed among HCL libraries. Staff may initiate requests by telephone or fax. Written subject requests (RR3s) may be faxed to Southdale Information Services (SdIS) using the HCL-RR-3 Fax form, but the answers to those questions are generally delivered through interdepartmental mail. All intralibrary fax transmissions will be completed as soon as possible. Staff receiving the fax request will inform the requesting staff of the anticipated time of transmission. | ||
| 21.4.2 | Requests for materials to be faxed directly to library users are referred to the copy center located at the Southdale Area Library.
SdIS staff assist library users in determining the specific pages to be faxed. The level of staff assistance provided will be consistent with other information requests as described in section 22. Library users must make arrangements with copy center staff to set up necessary accounts. The copy center staff determine if accounts may be established. The copy center staff is responsible for following copyright law. | ||
| 21.4.3 | HCL does not accept information requests from library users via fax. | ||
| 21.4.4 | Interlibrary fax transmissions between MELSA libraries support the cooperative use of information resources and enhance access to materials. See Appendix 9 for a copy of the MELSA Reference fax policy. See Appendix 10 for a description of the MELSA Library-to-Library Reference Network, its goals, policies, and procedures. |
| 21.5 | Information services delivered by mail are primarily intended to serve library users outside the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. |
| 21.5.1 | Subject requests received by mail will be answered within two weeks of receiving them.
Library users may be referred to their local library systems to obtain material through interlibrary loan. Information unique to Hennepin County will be photocopied and sent to the library user if the material to be copied is not extensive (less than ten pages). Appropriate referrals to other libraries or organizations such as the Minnesota Historical Society will be made. Requests for in-depth research or extensive photocopying are referred to a fee-based reference service. |
| 21.5.2 | Mail requests may be routed to the Senior Reference Librarian at Southdale for completion. | ||
| 21.5.3 | Mail requests are occasionally received from library users within the HCL service area. Staff may respond to these requests by describing the availability of in-person or telephone information services, referring suburban Hennepin County residents to HCL Outreach for possible homebound service, or answering the information request. | ||
| 21.5.4 | Money which is sent to HCL along with the request will be retained if photocopies are sent to the requestor. All other money will be returned. |