Trending
The price of everything seems to be rising. At Mifflin County Library, it's no different. You can still check out the same great books but we are finding we need to make a few changes when it comes to Interlibrary Loan.
What is Interlibrary Loan? Or ILL in library lingo. ILL is a service we offer free of charge. This is how it works. You come in and ask for a book. If our library doesn't own the book, we can go online to AccessPA. This is a database of all of the collections of all of the books of all of the libraries in Pennsylvania. It is super cool. If you want to take a look, please go to accesspa.powerlibrary.org.
We will try to find the book you want. Sometimes, if only one library owns a copy, that library may choose not to loan the book to MCL. They will keep it. Some libraries have rules that they will not mail DVDs or microfilm or audiobooks on CD. Each library has their own list of rules for AccessPA.
When we find your book, we will put in a request to borrow the book. Some libraries have a team of staff who work at Interlibrary Loan all day and others only have one person working on ILLs. MCL has two staff members. If the library has one ILL librarian, and if they are sick, then the request can sit in the inbox for three days before being automatically forwarded on to another library. Usually, requests will go to your closest library partner, for us this would be Juniata County Library or Centre County Library in Bellefonte. If the item isn't available, the request goes further on in the state of Pennsylvania.
If the book is checked out, the ILL staff member will mark the book as "checked out" in AccessPA and the request will move on. This process can happen quickly or if the staff are off and the request waits in the inbox for three days, the process could be longer. If you participate in ILL, please give yourself at least six weeks for the request to come in.
Once the librarian receives the request, the book is packaged. Many libraries ship their ILL packages once a week. You may be wondering, why do you ship only once a week? Because of the shipping costs. Interlibrary loan is free for you but not free to us. The average package costs $14 per book.
ILL is free. We only charge if you do not pick up your book. It was a lot of work getting it and we want you to read it, but if you don't get it we charge you $2.
Now, I don't want you to think that this is a hardship on Mifflin County Library. I have participated in the ILL service and have greatly enjoyed my books. But we may decide to purchase the title you want instead of Interlibrary loaning it. Because of this, we may not request an ILL that is newer than two-years-old. And, as always, ILL is for residents of Mifflin County. If you live outside of the county, please request your book from your home library.
•••
Susan Miriello is the Executive Director of the Mifflin County Library. You can call the library at (717) 242-2391. Kish Library's phone number is (717) 935-2880. Visit the library website at www.mifflincountylibrary.org.