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Learner guide: WorldShare ILL - Borrowing

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Course objectives

This learner guide is part of the WorldShare ILL Borrowing course. The objectives of the OCLC WorldShare Interlibrary Loan Borrowing course are to guide you through the functionalities available for borrowing libraries and to provide options that speed the fulfillment of interlibrary loan requests to save time for your staff and users. You will learn how to manage your requests and how to solve some issues that might arise with your ILL requests. If you are new to the service, we suggest that you attend the Introduction to WorldShare ILL training first to learn the basic concepts of the service and the preparation options.

Set up for borrowing

Automation options

Automation allows you to pre-define rules for the system to automatically select the best bibliographic record match, apply your constant data with your library's information and apply your custom holdings with your list of preferred lenders according to your criteria. Automation can be configured in the OCLC Service Configuration under Automated Request Manager either to help your library staff or patrons when creating ILL requests. Automation can be configured for staff-initiated or patron-initiated (staff-mediated or unmediated) requests.

Try a self-paced training

Create and edit requests

Staff can manually create requests in WorldShare ILL using Discover Items. Requests that originate outside of WorldShare ILL will be in New For Review queue.

Discover Items to create requests

Search for items and create a request under Discover Items in OCLC WorldShare® Interlibrary Loan. You can perform either a Basic, Advanced, or expert search using indexes. Refer to Search for more details.

After searching for items using Discover Items and finding the item of your interest then create your ILL request. 

Create either an individual request or multiple requests (i.e., book clubs). 

New For Review requests

New For Review requests have the initial categories of Not Reviewed and Reviewed. Requests under Not Reviewed are requests that have not been seen by your staff. These requests originate from a source outside of WorldShare ILL, they are patron-initiated requests . Requests with a status of Reviewed have been saved by your staff, using the Save for Review feature.

Refer to Process Request-Borrower to see instructions and watch short video tutorials on how to process New For Review requests.

Find more details in how to configure patron-initiated requests in Configure patron facing features.

 Note:  Copyright management is part of Tipasa service not WorldShare ILL. You can find details at Copyright.

Open Access fulfillment

Open Access fulfillment is used for copy requests of items available in the open web. Instead of sending requests to a lender, your library can fulfill the request directly in WorldShare ILL. Refer to Process Requests-Borrower to learn how to process Open Access requests.

Edit requests

You may edit a Produced request that has not yet been shipped by a lender in the following queues:

  • Awaiting Response
  • Direct Produced
  • Conditional

 Note: Editing is not allowed on closed requests.

Find further instructions and short video tutorials on how to create and edit requests on Create and edit requests.

Manage requests

After creating requests, they appear under the respective category in the left navigation menu and under Quick Links on the Home screen. The main categories are listed first, followed by sub-categories for easier organization. Click the category to see all requests in that category and update them as needed. Refer to Categories and queues to learn about each category.

 Note: Categories with no current requests will not appear in the list.

Updating requests

It is important to update the requests in the system as they change status. Refer to Process Request-Borrower to see instructions and watch short video tutorials on how to Receive and Renew items and Respond to Conditionals from Lenders as well. Refer to Return items to see instructions on how to Return items.

For details on how to batch Receive or Return requests, see Batch processing for borrowers.

Off-system requests

You can add requests created outside of WorldShare ILL into the system to become part of your statistics reports. You can either create or reuse a requests and route them to off-system request queue. For details see Off-system for Borrowing.

Printing options

Add and customize book straps, stickers, and shipping labels for printing. Refer to Printing for Borrowers for instructions and short tutorial videos.

Statistics reports

Learn how you can generate statistics reports to support your ILL activities.

Test your knowledge

Try this quiz: WSILL Borrowing quiz

Supplemental information

The OCLC Support site connects you to our highly skilled support staff and valuable self-serve resources. These include extensive documentation for OCLC’s products and services, helpful troubleshooting instructions, and other materials to answer your questions.

You’ve made it to the end of the Learner Guide! Allow me to take this opportunity to thank you for attending the WorldShare ILL - Borrowing class! 

We look forward to seeing you in the next class!