June 2007 Frontline staff

SCONUL Access

The largest borrowing scheme for higher education in the UK

and Ireland

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SCONUL Access

• The intended audience for this presentation is frontline staff

• It provides background information to the scheme and addresses its procedural requirements

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SCONUL Access!• From 1st August 2007 SCONUL Research

Extra and UK Libraries Plus will merge to form SCONUL Access

• 170 + library members• Covering all parts of England, Ireland,

Scotland and Wales• Offering access to

– Staff– Researchers– Taught postgraduates– Part–time, distance learning & placement

students

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Eligible Users

• SCONUL Access reflects the offers of SRX and UKLP

• Institutions may maintain existing offer or

• Extend their offer to cover other Bands

Your users get what you offer to others!

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Bands

• Band A– Staff and research students

• Band B– Part time, distance learning and

placement students

• Band C– Taught postgraduates

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Why be involved?

• Gives users easy access to a large number of academic libraries

• Reduces the need for multiplicity of local access schemes

• Provides a single set of procedures for all participating libraries

• Requires a standard SCONUL Access card for clear identification

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Benefits to academic institutions

• Resource sharing: better use of public funds

• Recognition of resource sharing: suggested link between membership of scheme and research funding

• Strengthens links within higher education community

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Benefits to users

• Single rules for joining; same method of identification required

• Individuals will not be required to negotiate access to individual library services

• No barriers to research trail; users can move easily from one library to another

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Responsibilities of library staff

• Become familiar with SCONUL Access procedures

• Provide a named contact for SCONUL Access

• Staff guide lists the responsibilities of– senior staff – the institutional contact – library systems managers – front line staff

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Local implementation

• Each institution has designated a borrowing entitlement for SCONUL Access users– Senior managers are free to define

borrowing entitlements, number of loans, loan period, type of material, any restrictions

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SCONUL expects

• Frontline library staff to be aware of the scheme – Staff training in registering users for the

scheme– Staff training in receiving users from

other institutions under the scheme• Library and institutional security staff

to be aware of the scheme– Outsiders must be able to gain access to

the library!

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SCONUL expects

• Eligible users to be given information about the SCONUL Access scheme – Publicity documentation– Web site links– Staff referrals

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Registering a home user

• Eligible User– Will depend on which bands your library

offers

• In good standing• Current ID or library card

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Registering a home user

• Eligible period– Duration of the user’s library registration or– Duration of the user’s institutional ID card

or– Duration of placement or– Three years

whichever is the shorter

• Scheme registration may be extended if employment or registration continues

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Registering a home user

• Issue a SCONUL Access card– Fill in ‘valid until’ date– Fill in SCONUL Access band: A, B, C

• or R (reference)

– Sign in the ‘authorised by’ area– Stamp on the reverse with your library

stamp

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Registering a home user

• Advise the user to present:– SCONUL Access card and – their library / ID card

when registering with participating host libraries

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Registering a home user

• Advise the user that a list of libraries participating in the scheme and a user guide is available at [www.sconul.ac.uk]

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Receiving a SCONUL Access user

• Check the user’s SCONUL Access card and home library / ID card – both are necessary for registration to proceed

• Register the user on your library system and note– Their band – Their home institution

• Register the user for the period shown on their SCONUL Access card

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Interim Measures

• Valid UKLP forms and SRX cards should continue to be accepted until their expiry date

• BUT encourage your users to exchange them for a SCONUL Access card

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Receiving a SCONUL Access user

• Provide the user with a copy of your library’s rules and regulations

• Advise the user of– Any restrictions in access– Their responsibility for any debts

incurred

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Receiving a SCONUL Access user

• To recover debts– Follow the normal pattern for external readers– If this is unsuccessful, inform your SCONUL

Access institutional contact, who will recover the debt from the home institution

• To withdraw membership– Follow the normal pattern for external readers– Inform your SCONUL Access institutional

contact, who will inform the home institution

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Implementing the scheme

• Easy to achieve: – Registering new users– Library staff training– Publicity to borrowers

• Could take time:– Establishing a system for generating

statistics based on the three bands of users

– Redefining current external borrowers to reflect the requirements of scheme

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SCONUL Access

• Please speak to your institutional contact if you have any queries

• More information and documentation supporting the scheme is available from [www.sconul.ac.uk “Using other libraries”]

June 2007 Frontline staff

SCONUL Access

The largest borrowing scheme for higher education in the UK

and Ireland