67th IFLA Council and General Conference August 16-25, 2001 Code...
67th IFLA Council and General
Conference
August 16-25, 2001
Code Number:
064-108-E
Division Number:
V
Professional Group:
Document Delivery and Interlending
Joint Meeting with:
-
Meeting Number:
108
Simultaneous Interpretation:
-
Interlibrary Loan in Mexico: two solutions to an age-old problem
Elda Mónica Guerrero
Centro Nacional de las Artes
Mexico City, Mexico
Daniel Mattes
Universidad Anahuac
Mexico City, Mexico
Abstract:
In spite of the great strides that have been made in recent years in improving Mexico’s transportation and
communication systems, obtaining material through interlibrary loan is still often difficult. This problem
is exacerbated if the libraries involved are in different parts of the country or, even worse, if one of the
libraries is located in another country. This paper focuses on two relatively small but successful
programs that have been organized by the Grupo Amigos and the Transborder Library Forum (Foro).
Both programs are important due to their international focus, but the latter program is particularly
interesting due to changes that are being made at the Mexican coordinating library to allow end users to
prepare their own ILL requests via the library’s Web page, thus potentially speeding up the ILL process
and giving the end users a more dynamic role in creating modern and efficient library services. The two
programs will be compared and the authors will speculate on the future of interlibrary loan in Mexico.
1.
INTRODUCTION
In this paper we will examine two interlibrary loan programs that operate between U.S. and Mexican
libraries. The first is run by the Grupo Amigos and the second is a program established by the
Transborder Library Forum or Foro.
2
2.
THE GRUPO AMIGOS
The Grupo Amigos is a group of 13 Mexican libraries, principally located in the Mexico City metropolitan
area, and 28 U.S. libraries. The group was formed in 1989 under the auspices of the University of Texas
at El Paso (UTEP) and the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico or ITAM to provide interlibrary
loans. Robert A. Seal, who was then the University Librarian at UTEP, played a key role in establishing
the group. Member libraries include those of some of Mexico’s most prestigious universities and research
centers as well as the libraries of major private and public universities in the U.S. Southwest. Since its
inception, Grupo Amigos has received ample support from the Benjamin Franklin Library, which is the
U.S. Embassy library in Mexico. The Franklin Library has played a critical role in sending books back
and forth between the U.S. and Mexico, thus avoiding the need to rely on Mexico’s often slow and
unreliable postal service. This interlibrary loan program has also supported a document delivery service
via the Franklin Library’s mail service, fax and Ariel software.
Grupo Amigo activities have been coordinated on the Mexican side on a rotating basis, with different
member libraries coordinating the program for two-year periods. It was first coordinated by the ITAM,
then by the Colegio de Mexico, the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Economicas or CIDE, and later by
the University of the Americas. The program is currently coordinated by the campus located in the State
of Mexico of the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, commonly known as the
Monterrey Tec. On the U.S. side, the library at UTEP has played a permanent role as coordinator.
During the program's first five years, Mexican libraries borrowed heavily from their U.S. counterparts.
This high demand later declined as Mexican libraries began to have OPACs and were able to provide
more efficient resource sharing on a local level.
Recently, the Mexican members of Grupo Amigos have begun to focus their attention on other activities,
such as providing continuing education courses and the organization of a major congress at the University
of the Americas in Puebla in February, 2000. A second congress is being organized for 2002. You can
find more information about the Congreso Amigos 2002 at http://www.udlap.mx/fido/amigos/
Some of this group's other achievements include the following: (1) purchase of the Ariel software as a
consortium; (2) establishment of a procedure to request interlibrary loans first by fax and later by e-mail
and (3) recognition by library administrators of the need to provide staff training on copyright legislation
on a national and international level.
3.
THE TRANSBORDER LIBRARY FORUM
The Transborder Library Forum, has also established a program to promote interlibrary loan between U.S.
and Mexican libraries. It has used somewhat different strategies and has up to now focused exclusively on
providing journal articles and book chapters.
In 1990, the Transborder Library Forum or Foro held its first meeting in Rio Rico, U.S.A. to promote the
exchange of ideas and establish cooperative projects between libraries in the United States, Mexico and
Canada. The Foro’s annual meetings are alternatively held in the United States and Mexico. It has no
headquarters and no officers. Each meeting is organized by a dedicated group of volunteers. The XI
3
Transborder Library Forum was held in March in Hermosillo, Mexico. Next year’s conference will be
held in Laredo, U.S.A.
4.
THE TRANSNATIONAL INTERLIBRARY LOAN PROGRAM
The Foro’s Interlibrary Loan Program is officially denominated as the “Transnational Interlibrary Loan
Program”. The program was originally designed to support the needs of smaller libraries, including
academic, medical and special libraries. It was designed both to promote interlibrary loan between U.S.
and Mexican libraries, as well as to stimulate ILL activity between libraries located in different parts of
Mexico.
Interlibrary loan in Mexico functions almost exclusively at a local level. As early as 1995, a number of
librarians began to express an interest in creating a project that would help them obtain journal articles
not readily available in local libraries. Many hoped that U. S. academic libraries would be willing and
able to help their Mexican colleagues by providing copies of articles available only in U. S. collections.
As a result of this interest, Robert A. Seal and Daniel Mattes later created a “Proposal for the Creation of a
U. S. – Mexican Interlibrary Loan Working Group". In the proposal, it was expressly stated that among
the goals of the program was the desire to strengthen interlibrary loan within Mexico as well as between
the U. S. and Mexico. It was also agreed that articles would be sent between libraries via the Ariel
software or by fax where Ariel was not available.
These same two librarians later prepared a new document entitled “Suggested Guidelines for
Transnational Interlibrary Loans” and were encharged to organize and coordinate a pilot project which
included 22 Mexican library participants and 11 U. S. library participants. All of the U.S. participants
were academic libraries; Mexican participants included academic, medical and special libraries.
An evaluation was presented in 1998 on the basis of the short trial period mentioned previously. The
group decided that the pilot project had been successful and recommended that it become a permanent
program. 49 libraries are currently registered as participants in the Foro ILL Program, including 39
Mexican libraries and 10 U. S. libraries. 31 other Mexican libraries have participated in the program in an
unofficial and sporadic manner.
5.
NEW STRATEGIES
In response to basic needs expressed by program participants, since March, 2001 the library of the
Universidad Anahuac has dedicated part of its Web page to the Transnational Interlibrary Loan Program.
At this site one can find the guidelines under which the program operates and a directory of participating
libraries. There is also a form which allows the end user to formulate his or her own interlibrary loan
request.
The URL for the University Anahuac Library’s main Web page is
http://www.anahuac.mx/biblioteca/
. Information specific to the program can be found under “Services”.
4
We plan to hold workshops to show users how the program works and thus empower them so that they
can use the form to directly request materials from appropriate lending libraries. This means bringing
about a major change of library user culture, since most of our users are accustomed to receiving
personalized service by the librarians. It’s also important to mention that at this point our users typically
still do not provide complete bibliographic information in their requests for new acquisitions. It goes
without saying that they have very little experience in locating material in other libraries via Internet and
deciding which library can best help them. All of these abilities will have to be taught in the workshops or
the program will become unworkable. If this process works at the Universidad Anahuac library, we will
propose that other program participants attempt to implement similar strategies.
The library at the Universidad Anahuac is currently working with the univeristy’s Department of
Academic Services to establish an Internet discussion list to improve communication between program
participants.
6.
CONCLUSIONS
The Grupo Amigos and the Transborder Library Forum have established different but complementary
programs to meet the need of sharing information resources between libraries in Mexico and the United
States. The Grupo Amigos program provides both books and documents; the Foro's ILL program deals
almost exclusively with documents. The Grupo Amigo's program continues to work more or less as it has
since its inception, with the end user playing a relatively passive role. The Foro's program is looking for
ways to empower end users to make their own requests directly to lending libraries, thus giving the end
user the chance to take a more dynamic role in the library and thus enjoy speedier and more efficient
services. It is our hope that human creativity and technological innovative will provide the elements
needed to improve these and other forms of resource sharing between libraries in the United States and
Mexico. We do not foresee a library without walls or without librarians, but we do believe users are
willing and able to play a more active role in creating the libraries they expect and deserve.
Elda Monica Guerrero
E-mail: emguerrero@correo.cnart.mx
Daniel Mattes
E-mail: dmattes@anahuac.mx
Conference
August 16-25, 2001
Code Number:
064-108-E
Division Number:
V
Professional Group:
Document Delivery and Interlending
Joint Meeting with:
-
Meeting Number:
108
Simultaneous Interpretation:
-
Interlibrary Loan in Mexico: two solutions to an age-old problem
Elda Mónica Guerrero
Centro Nacional de las Artes
Mexico City, Mexico
Daniel Mattes
Universidad Anahuac
Mexico City, Mexico
Abstract:
In spite of the great strides that have been made in recent years in improving Mexico’s transportation and
communication systems, obtaining material through interlibrary loan is still often difficult. This problem
is exacerbated if the libraries involved are in different parts of the country or, even worse, if one of the
libraries is located in another country. This paper focuses on two relatively small but successful
programs that have been organized by the Grupo Amigos and the Transborder Library Forum (Foro).
Both programs are important due to their international focus, but the latter program is particularly
interesting due to changes that are being made at the Mexican coordinating library to allow end users to
prepare their own ILL requests via the library’s Web page, thus potentially speeding up the ILL process
and giving the end users a more dynamic role in creating modern and efficient library services. The two
programs will be compared and the authors will speculate on the future of interlibrary loan in Mexico.
1.
INTRODUCTION
In this paper we will examine two interlibrary loan programs that operate between U.S. and Mexican
libraries. The first is run by the Grupo Amigos and the second is a program established by the
Transborder Library Forum or Foro.
2
2.
THE GRUPO AMIGOS
The Grupo Amigos is a group of 13 Mexican libraries, principally located in the Mexico City metropolitan
area, and 28 U.S. libraries. The group was formed in 1989 under the auspices of the University of Texas
at El Paso (UTEP) and the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico or ITAM to provide interlibrary
loans. Robert A. Seal, who was then the University Librarian at UTEP, played a key role in establishing
the group. Member libraries include those of some of Mexico’s most prestigious universities and research
centers as well as the libraries of major private and public universities in the U.S. Southwest. Since its
inception, Grupo Amigos has received ample support from the Benjamin Franklin Library, which is the
U.S. Embassy library in Mexico. The Franklin Library has played a critical role in sending books back
and forth between the U.S. and Mexico, thus avoiding the need to rely on Mexico’s often slow and
unreliable postal service. This interlibrary loan program has also supported a document delivery service
via the Franklin Library’s mail service, fax and Ariel software.
Grupo Amigo activities have been coordinated on the Mexican side on a rotating basis, with different
member libraries coordinating the program for two-year periods. It was first coordinated by the ITAM,
then by the Colegio de Mexico, the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Economicas or CIDE, and later by
the University of the Americas. The program is currently coordinated by the campus located in the State
of Mexico of the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, commonly known as the
Monterrey Tec. On the U.S. side, the library at UTEP has played a permanent role as coordinator.
During the program's first five years, Mexican libraries borrowed heavily from their U.S. counterparts.
This high demand later declined as Mexican libraries began to have OPACs and were able to provide
more efficient resource sharing on a local level.
Recently, the Mexican members of Grupo Amigos have begun to focus their attention on other activities,
such as providing continuing education courses and the organization of a major congress at the University
of the Americas in Puebla in February, 2000. A second congress is being organized for 2002. You can
find more information about the Congreso Amigos 2002 at http://www.udlap.mx/fido/amigos/
Some of this group's other achievements include the following: (1) purchase of the Ariel software as a
consortium; (2) establishment of a procedure to request interlibrary loans first by fax and later by e-mail
and (3) recognition by library administrators of the need to provide staff training on copyright legislation
on a national and international level.
3.
THE TRANSBORDER LIBRARY FORUM
The Transborder Library Forum, has also established a program to promote interlibrary loan between U.S.
and Mexican libraries. It has used somewhat different strategies and has up to now focused exclusively on
providing journal articles and book chapters.
In 1990, the Transborder Library Forum or Foro held its first meeting in Rio Rico, U.S.A. to promote the
exchange of ideas and establish cooperative projects between libraries in the United States, Mexico and
Canada. The Foro’s annual meetings are alternatively held in the United States and Mexico. It has no
headquarters and no officers. Each meeting is organized by a dedicated group of volunteers. The XI
3
Transborder Library Forum was held in March in Hermosillo, Mexico. Next year’s conference will be
held in Laredo, U.S.A.
4.
THE TRANSNATIONAL INTERLIBRARY LOAN PROGRAM
The Foro’s Interlibrary Loan Program is officially denominated as the “Transnational Interlibrary Loan
Program”. The program was originally designed to support the needs of smaller libraries, including
academic, medical and special libraries. It was designed both to promote interlibrary loan between U.S.
and Mexican libraries, as well as to stimulate ILL activity between libraries located in different parts of
Mexico.
Interlibrary loan in Mexico functions almost exclusively at a local level. As early as 1995, a number of
librarians began to express an interest in creating a project that would help them obtain journal articles
not readily available in local libraries. Many hoped that U. S. academic libraries would be willing and
able to help their Mexican colleagues by providing copies of articles available only in U. S. collections.
As a result of this interest, Robert A. Seal and Daniel Mattes later created a “Proposal for the Creation of a
U. S. – Mexican Interlibrary Loan Working Group". In the proposal, it was expressly stated that among
the goals of the program was the desire to strengthen interlibrary loan within Mexico as well as between
the U. S. and Mexico. It was also agreed that articles would be sent between libraries via the Ariel
software or by fax where Ariel was not available.
These same two librarians later prepared a new document entitled “Suggested Guidelines for
Transnational Interlibrary Loans” and were encharged to organize and coordinate a pilot project which
included 22 Mexican library participants and 11 U. S. library participants. All of the U.S. participants
were academic libraries; Mexican participants included academic, medical and special libraries.
An evaluation was presented in 1998 on the basis of the short trial period mentioned previously. The
group decided that the pilot project had been successful and recommended that it become a permanent
program. 49 libraries are currently registered as participants in the Foro ILL Program, including 39
Mexican libraries and 10 U. S. libraries. 31 other Mexican libraries have participated in the program in an
unofficial and sporadic manner.
5.
NEW STRATEGIES
In response to basic needs expressed by program participants, since March, 2001 the library of the
Universidad Anahuac has dedicated part of its Web page to the Transnational Interlibrary Loan Program.
At this site one can find the guidelines under which the program operates and a directory of participating
libraries. There is also a form which allows the end user to formulate his or her own interlibrary loan
request.
The URL for the University Anahuac Library’s main Web page is
http://www.anahuac.mx/biblioteca/
. Information specific to the program can be found under “Services”.
4
We plan to hold workshops to show users how the program works and thus empower them so that they
can use the form to directly request materials from appropriate lending libraries. This means bringing
about a major change of library user culture, since most of our users are accustomed to receiving
personalized service by the librarians. It’s also important to mention that at this point our users typically
still do not provide complete bibliographic information in their requests for new acquisitions. It goes
without saying that they have very little experience in locating material in other libraries via Internet and
deciding which library can best help them. All of these abilities will have to be taught in the workshops or
the program will become unworkable. If this process works at the Universidad Anahuac library, we will
propose that other program participants attempt to implement similar strategies.
The library at the Universidad Anahuac is currently working with the univeristy’s Department of
Academic Services to establish an Internet discussion list to improve communication between program
participants.
6.
CONCLUSIONS
The Grupo Amigos and the Transborder Library Forum have established different but complementary
programs to meet the need of sharing information resources between libraries in Mexico and the United
States. The Grupo Amigos program provides both books and documents; the Foro's ILL program deals
almost exclusively with documents. The Grupo Amigo's program continues to work more or less as it has
since its inception, with the end user playing a relatively passive role. The Foro's program is looking for
ways to empower end users to make their own requests directly to lending libraries, thus giving the end
user the chance to take a more dynamic role in the library and thus enjoy speedier and more efficient
services. It is our hope that human creativity and technological innovative will provide the elements
needed to improve these and other forms of resource sharing between libraries in the United States and
Mexico. We do not foresee a library without walls or without librarians, but we do believe users are
willing and able to play a more active role in creating the libraries they expect and deserve.
Elda Monica Guerrero
E-mail: emguerrero@correo.cnart.mx
Daniel Mattes
E-mail: dmattes@anahuac.mx