PURCHASE ON
D EMAND( POD)
& I NTERLIBRARY L OAN
W HAT
DOES
POD
MEAN ?

Patron-centered/driven acquisition, just-in-time acquisition,
patron-initiated purchasing (PIP) or evidence based selection

Workflow and policies differ among libraries, but initial
request comes through ILL

Little or no subject specialist/selector input or intervention

Some institutions authorize ILL units (rather than
acquisitions) to make the purchase request

Item may be given to the user when it arrives and cataloged
after it is returned to further expedite fulfillment

Supplement to traditional (just-in-case) collection
development methods
POD P OLICIES

Set budget for program

Determine workflow for ILL and Acquisitions

Selection criteria:
*date of material
*language
*vendors
*publishers (UP vs. vanity press)
*type of material (recreational or textbooks)

Metrics:
*circulation stats
Gail Herrera & Judy Greenwood (2011) “Patron-Initiated Purchasing: Evaluating Criteria and Workflows” Journal of Interlibrary
Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserve 21:1-2, 9-24.
B UYING
VS .
B ORROWING

Interlibrary loan is not intended as a substitute for
collection development.

New titles should not be requested through ILL whenever
possible

POD can save time of user and of library staff

It may be cheaper to purchase and catalog if material
cannot be borrowed from a reciprocal borrowing institution
and/or the lender requires return by expedited shipper

Much of the literature points to circulation stats that show
POD materials circulate more than once
B UYING
VS .
B ORROWING

Kent Allen (1979) Use of Library Materials: The
University of Pittsburg Study New York: Marcel
Dekker
Approximately 40% of new titles had not
circulated 5 years after purchase

Richard L. Trueswell (1969) “Library Users: The
80/20 Rule” Wilson Library Bulletin 43/5, 458461
80% of use from 20% of collection
B UYING
VS .
B ORROWING

Buy when book is published in the current/previous year

Filling requests in the most timely manner possible is of the
upmost importance to our users

Patron does not care how the material is obtained

POD program should be seamless and not require additional
work for end user

According to the literature, many interdisciplinary titles are
added to the collection through POD programs that are not
normally obtained through traditional collection
development policies
B UYING
VS .
B ORROWING

The goal of the Washington and Lee
University Library’s POD program is to
meet the immediate needs of our users
while adding potential
high-use titles to our collection

Collaboration between Public Services
(ILL Unit) and Technical Services
T HE W&L POD PROGRAM
CRITERIA :

current year imprint

price of item less than $100 (prior to shipping)

not already expected through our Approval Plan

ILL materials that are requested more than once (by
same user or multiple users) or needed for an
extended period of time

Very few or no holdings on a title in WorldCat
H OW
IT WORKS
@ W&L

ILL request submitted by user through ILLiad

ILL staff determines if request meets POD criteria

Request is routed from ILL to Acquisitions using
email templates and routing rules set-up in ILLiad

Item is purchased, cataloged, and user is notified
when item is available for check-out
W HY I T W ORKS

Items may be purchased and next day delivery requested from vendor

Items are “rush” cataloged

It is possible for users to have item(s) in hand in shorter amount of time than
average ILL transaction (for W&L, average ILL transaction is about 4-5 business
days)

It does not guarantee use by one user (they may not come to pick-up the
item)

In our experience, POD materials do get checked-out at least once and several
have had multiple check-outs

User will have longer loan period than with ILL and can easily renew

Item will be available for future check-outs

Works well for DVDs (cheap to purchase and difficult to borrow through ILL)
PATRON F EEDBACK

Some of the literature discusses obtaining
patron feedback through surveys

Suggestions for improvements, level of
satisfactions, expectations/needs, etc.
Uta Hussong-Christian & Kerri Goergen-Doll (2010) “We're Listening: Using
Patron Feedback to Assess and Enhance Purchase on Demand” Journal of
Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserve 20:5, 319-335.
C RITICISM

POD purchases may be made without patron
consultation and patron only needs book for citation
checking or bibliography chasing

Collection may end up with materials that have narrow
focus

It is cost effective? Cost-per-use? ROI?
See G. Van Dyk (2011) “Interlibrary loan purchase-ondemand: A misleading literature” Library Collections,
Acquisitions, and Technical Services Volume 35: 2-3,
83-89
GIST: G ETTING IT S YSTEM
TOOLKIT
D EVELOPE D
BY
M ILNE L IBRARY
AT
SU N Y G ENESEO

idsproject.org/tools/gist.aspx

Tool for integrating Acquisitions and ILL into one workflow
and interface

From GIST website
using ILLiad/GIST users and staff can easily determine:
*uniqueness (for cooperative collection development)
*locate free online sources (to reduce cost and/or
catalog eBooks just-in-time)
*see reviews and rankings (to add value to the request
process)
*see purchasing options and prices
GIST
B IBLIOGRAPHY
Nancy Lichten Alder (2007) “Direct Purchase As a Function of Interlibrary Loan: Buying Books Versus Borrowing” Journal of
Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserve, 18:1, 9-15.
Megan Gaffney (2011) “Item Shipped! Purchase on Demand and ILLiad 8 Addons” 2011 ILLiad International Conference
Gail Herrera & Judy Greenwood (2011) “Patron-Initiated Purchasing: Evaluating Criteria and Workflows” Journal of Interlibrary
Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserve, 21:1-2, 9-24.
Uta Hussong-Christian & Kerri Goergen-Doll (2010) “We're Listening: Using Patron Feedback to Assess and Enhance Purchase on
Demand” Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserve, 20:5, 319-335.
Peter Spitzform (2011) The User Knows Best www.nelib.org/Resources/Documents/NETSL/SpitzformPDAnetsl2011.pdf
David C. Tyler, Joyce C. Melvin, Yang Xu, Marylou Epp & Anita M. Kreps (2011) “Effective Selectors? Interlibrary Loan Patrons as
Monograph Purchasers: A Comparative Examination of Price and Circulation-Related Performance” Journal of
Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserve, 21:1-2, 57-90
David C. Tyler (2011) “Patron-Driven Purchase on Demand Programs for Printed Books and Similar Materials” Library Philosophy
and Practice http://unllib.unl.edu/LPP/tyler.htm
G. Van Dyk (2011) “Interlibrary loan purchase-on-demand: A misleading literature” Library Collections, Acquisitions, and Technical
Services Volume 35: 2-3, 83-89
David Zopfi-Jordan (2008) “Purchasing or Borrowing: Making Interlibrary Loan Decisions That Enhance Patron Satisfaction”
Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery & Electronic Reserve, 18:3, 387-394.