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UW System Commercial Document Delivery Funds

Proposed changes for 2008-09

Background:
Providing UW libraries with the tools and funding to expedite commercial document delivery is a critical component to meeting faculty expectations and building a stronger information infrastructure across the UW System. UW System currently fully funds access to two commercial document delivery options, CISTI and the British Library, which provide fast access to needed research. Fifty thousand annually is committed to this, and the service is used across system by Interlibrary Loan departments filling faculty requests. It is a successful program.

One of CUWL’s primary strategic directions is to increase the Shared Electronic Collection to meet the scholarly and educational needs of UW faculty and students.  A System DIN is in motion which, if approved and funded, will help grow the research infrastructure by greatly expanding the quantity and quality of electronic resources available to faculty and students across the UW System. Fast access to global research is critical to support faculty and graduate student research, and supports the recruitment and retention of research faculty at UW institutions.

In the Fall of 2007, OLIT recommended that $120,000 be allocated to expand the commercial document delivery options available to comprehensives and colleges. The first $40,000 would be used to fully fund commercial document delivery, with the remaining $80,000 to pay for half the cost of commercial document delivery, with the other half being paid for by the institution(s) using the service. The intent was that these funds will begin to meet the pressing need of faculty and demonstrate a commitment to supporting research and scholarly activities at these institutions.

Evaluation:
The CUWL Collection and Resource Sharing Committee recommended in January that following the Spring Semester the initial commercial document delivery arrangements for the use of these funds be evaluated, including whether the services selected are meeting the needs of faculty and campuses, whether the use of the funds is balanced or uneven across campuses, and if the process is working or can it be improved.

What we have found through the initial trial period is that:

• Integrating new commercial document delivery vendors into some ILL departments’ workflow was not as smooth as CISTI and the British Library, which interface smoothly through ILLiad; 
  
  
• Commercial document delivery vendors have little to no experience working with consortia, and initial set up arrangements took from several weeks to several months;
  
  
• The suppliers (Wiley and Science Direct) added to the existing CISTI and British Library document delivery services were too narrow; some campuses didn’t have any need to purchase articles from Wiley or Science Direct. Expanding the list of vendors and/or providing institutions with a purchasing card to use with any vendor were suggested solutions; 
  
  
• Many people indicated that they would like to see this arrangement made available to graduate students as well as faculty, and possibly upper level undergraduates working on collaborative research projects with faculty;

Proposed Improvements:
The following are proposed improvements to the process and use of the commercial document delivery funds, taking into account that after the initial $40,000, campuses are expected to pay half the cost, based on use, of the commercial document delivery funds.

• Purchasing cards for campuses
  Set up purchasing cards for each library through their university account with WiLS as the billing address. Libraries would use these cards to purchase documents commercially from any provider or publisher that meets their needs. WiLS would administer the matching fund requirements for libraries and system. This provides each institution with the greatest amount of flexibility.
  
  
• Vendors
  Continue the arrangements with Wiley-Blackwell, Science Direct, CISTI, and British Library, and possibly add more vendors based on cost savings and work flow considerations. 
  
  
• Expand users
  Expand the eligibility of users to include graduate students and/or upper level undergraduate students working on collaborative research with faculty, at the discretion of the library.
  
  
• Local funding
  Encourage library directors to allocate funds for the purpose of supporting commercial document delivery. Encourage ILL departments to consider when speed of document delivery is more important than cost avoidance.
  
  
• Equitable Access
  Track the use of these funds by campus, but set no restrictions on use unless significant imbalance is observed. This is the model currently used for the CISTI and British Library funds.

The first $40,000, which has not been spent yet, would continue to be available without matching funds until it is gone. After that, the portion of the matching funds that comes from libraries is based on use. If a library purchases a $20 article, the library will be billed for $10, and System pays $10. Wils will track the use of these funds through the purchase cards, the Science Direct account, and the Wiley Interscience account.  Libraries will be billed quarterly for their portion.  Data on what publishers, vendors, and titles are purchased will be tracked in order to provide us information on which vendors to consider for future system wide access.