Camino: Interlibrary Loan on Steroids

Since we started using WorldCat® Local as our library catalog/discovery service in June 2011, book borrowing through Interlibrary loan (ILL) has nearly tripled. Why is that?

Because when searching WorldCat® Local Hope students, staff, and faculty now find books held in libraries worldwide as well as the books (and other resources) found locally in the Darling Library. So, if we don’t have a book they want among the 70,000 volumes shelved at 2500 E. Nutwood Avenue in Fullerton, California, a click of a button invites them to “Request on Interlibrary Loan.”* They can still get it. Wonderful!

However, the wonderfulness can turn to disappointment when they discover that it usually takes about two weeks to get a book on Interlibrary Loan. (We've noticed that students often need research materials sooner than that.) Nevertheless, our patrons borrow more books from other libraries through ILL even with a two-week waiting period.

But now we have joined Camino! This is another example of resource sharing through SCELC. If a book is available at one of the other twelve Camino member libraries in California, our patrons can “Borrow from Camino”* and it can be delivered to the Darling Library for them via courier within two days. That’s as quick as Amazon®! Camino gives us speedy access to over 1.8 million books beyond our shelves. And according to an overlap analysis, 37% of Hope’s library is a unique contribution to Camino. (It's nice to be able to share!)

Look for the blue buttons to request a book from another library.*

More private libraries are joining Camino, but as of today the following libraries are members:

Southern California:
• California Baptist University, Riverside
• California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
• Claremont Colleges, Claremont
• Hope International University, Fullerton
• Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles
• Occidental College, Los Angeles
• Pepperdine University, Malibu
• The American Jewish University, Los Angeles
• Westmont College, Santa Barbara

Northern California:
• Dominican University, San Rafael
• Holy Names University, Oakland
• University of the Pacific, Stockton
• William Jessup University, Rocklin

*Eligible Darling Library patrons (current students, staff, and faculty) must first log in to "My Library Account" with their HIU ID number in the upper right-hand corner of the WorldCat® Local search screen and be connected to the Hope International University network by authenticating with their HIU email address and password.  *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Robin Hartman is Director of Library Services at Hope International University. She is curious about how the organization and communication of information shapes society and is committed to equipping students to impact the world for Christ.