Interlibrary Loan Broadens Material Selection Friends of the Library Spring Sale a Success
May 7, 2010 — Didn’t find that out-of-print book on your last trip to the library or online catalog?
There’s a good chance you can get it, anyway, through a service that connects nearly all Missouri public libraries. It’s called "interlibrary loan." The Springfield-Greene County District can borrow and lend materials with more than 9,100 U.S. libraries, said Rhonda Brown, the district’s interlibrary loan manager. There are a few exceptions: Bestsellers, recent publications, textbooks, pamphlets, audio- and videocassettes, rare or valuable materials are not available through interlibrary loan.
"The goal is to connect all 152 Missouri libraries to be a part of that so it can really enhance their collections," Brown said.
Participating libraries also enjoy free courier delivery service two days a week to more than 350 libraries in Missouri, Kansas and Colorado.
Springfield-Greene County Libraries card holders can submit a request at their library branch or on www.coolcat.org. The request goes to the closest library that has that title, and is delivered to the patron’s branch in two to five days.
Our library patrons like it, as this one said in a recent survey: "…It allows me to access my author’s books in chronological order. It is also a wonderful tool for accessing very old books and long-gone authors.
"You can learn more about interlibrary loan at thelibrary.org/services/ill.cfm, or call 883-5310.
The district is also one of two public libraries in the state in MOBIUS, allowing us to borrow and lend materials with Missouri academic libraries for our patrons.
_ _ _Thank you to everyone across the Ozarks who helped make the Friends of the Library Spring Book Sale a huge success, with $104,237.41 in sales. It was the third-highest sales total in the Friends book sale history.
Proceeds benefit the Springfield-Greene County Libraries and you, the customers who use any of the services, programs and materials the library provides.
The Friends sale usually concludes at 5 p.m. on end-of-sale Sunday with leftover books. But the sale wrapped up early Sunday afternoon when Bag Day depleted the last of the inventory. It was a relief for Friends volunteers, who put in 2,773 hours setting up, working and taking down the sale.