Providing Loansome Doc

If you have decided to offer Loansome Doc service to your users, there are a few procedures you will first have to complete. None of the procedures require the intervention of CISTI, but if you have any questions or problems, you can always contact the DOCLINE coordinator.

The steps required are as follows:

Step 1: develop a Loansome Doc policy

You should first make a few decisions regarding how you will offer Loansome Doc service. Some of the questions you might want to answer include:

• Which user groups will you offer Loansome Doc? Will you limit access affiliated users, or will you offer service to a wider audience?
• Will you charge for Loansome Doc service? If so, will you charge for all requests filled through Loansome Doc, or only for those that you forward into DOCLINE?
• Will you use Loansome Doc only for interlibrary loans, or will you allow users to request articles held at your library?
• What sort of training and support will you provide?
• Will you require your users to register with the library as Loansome Doc users? If so, using what procedures?

Step 2: update your Institution record

From your DOCLINE account, access your Institution record and select  Loansome Doc section. Check the box indicating that you are a Loansome Doc Provider. Next, indicate which groups you are going to provide Loansome Doc service to, and which of those groups you are going to charge for filling Loansome Doc requests by checking the boxes next to the appropriate categories. You will also need to input your delivery methods. If you wish to customize the display during registration of your Loansome Doc patrons, you can do so under the "Registration" section. Remember to save your changes.

This will list you as a Loansome Doc Provider and will allow Loansome Doc users to send you requests.

Step 3: inform your users

You need to inform your users that you are now offering Loansome Doc service. You will also need to advise them of any procedures and policies you have put in place. You might require that your users register with you before sending you and Loansome Doc requests. You will additionally need to inform your users how to set up a Loansome Doc account with NLM. You should create a test account for yourself and practice sending Loansome Doc requests to your library. Users will need to be told your LIBID in order to register.

Information about how to create a Loansome Doc account can be found at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/loansome_doc.html.