Why is it that patrons of the medical center library have to pay $5 for every interlibrary loan, when I can go over to Perkins and get them for free? Does it really cost $5 to copy and mail a 10-page article (average) here? Seems like the library could be making a good profit on those!
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Answer Person can assure you that the Medical Center Library is not planning trips to the Caribbean with your ILL money. As they explain the situation, “Sounds like a good deal for the Medical Center Library doesn’t it? But national studies of ILL costs have shown that obtaining one interlibrary loan can cost well over $20 in staff time and other expenses for the local library. Even copying from our local collections runs well over $10 per article when you consider staff time, equipment, supplies and other costs. The funding models for Perkins and Medical Center Library are different since our budgets come from different sources and have separate administrative reporting lines. While Perkins has funding to subsidize the full cost of loans, the Medical Center Library has always had to generate revenues to cover at least a portion of its expenses for staff, equipment and our collection. Up to now MCL has subsidized a large portion of the fees charged by other libraries for photocopies and loans to Duke patrons. The really bad news is that due to budget cuts MCL will no longer be able to cover these expenses. While MCL will not charge the full cost of staff time and equipment, patrons will have to pay the full fee charged by lending libraries. As of July 1, MCL fees will probably be $11 per item, the standard national fee for health sciences libraries, for interlibrary loans.”