(HOW DO YOU MANAGE ILL WITHOUT ILL MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE…)
UGA USES READILY AVAILABLE SOFTWARE (EXCEL) TO AID ILL
ACTIVITY
Susan Morris: University of Georgia Libraries ILL Department
*NOTE: Please contact smorris@uga.edu for handouts and copies of templates
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Until April of this year, no integrated ILL management software package at UGA.
Waited for the “perfect” package to appear during time when this type of software
was in its infancy and early development.
Looked at SAVEIT, then CLIO, but money was tight, we felt too busy to stop to learn
about new sofware, there were other reasons (or excuses)
In recent years continued to wait. We didn’t know whether everybody in the USG
would be getting a common package of ILL software funded by the BOR, or whether
we’d have to find the money to finance such a package ourselves.
Let’s go waaaayyyy back to 1989 when I became head of ILL:
 Hand-counted statistics; used paper worksheets, a calculator and paper grid to tally
statistics and assess activity in both Borrowing and Lending.
 That “system” in place for some 10 years or so. All we had, but it sufficed.
 Activity began to burgeon. Also, often asked--on the spot--to provide figures—ex.
total copies provided to other University System libraries in the last year, or the
number of books we provided to other southeastern research libraries in the last two
years.
 Decided to experiment with software already available to us, outside of what was
offered by OCLC, to help deal with our reporting of statistics and--while we were at
it--to try to help expedite the processing of material that we had borrowed from other
libraries.
Every UGA Library staff member has had Microsoft Excel on their desktops since the
early 1990’s. My Borrowing Supervisor and I decided to see what we could do with
Excel to:
 Cut out some tedium of processing incoming material (e.g. typing the same patron
name, title, and due date on several different forms)
 Manage statistics on a month by month basis, so that our figures would be at least
within a month of currency and so that there would be no scrambling at year’s end for
the annual report.
How many of you are familiar with using Excel?
Not going to teach Excel today, but here’s an extremely quick and very dirty basic review
of how Excel works:
 Create templates in Excel—[show BASIC EXCEL example]
 Functions based on a grid-- rows and columns containing cells, named like the points
on a graph.
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Excel mostly for spreadsheets, but can populate cells with either numbers or text,
which makes it more versatile than Word.
Can also assign formulas to any cell; if plug numbers into a column or row, assign
formulas where needed, and tally sums of either those rows or those columns.
First--and simplest things we did using Excel: [ show EXCEL CHARGE SHEET]
 (LAIII would spend several days madly reconciling-- by hand--photocopy costs
which researchers with grant money wanted to charge to University accounts).
 Template allowed new charge sheet for each account number every month--could
process copies as they came in.
 End of the month, run paper copies of the whole set of charge sheets and turn the set
in to our Business Office.
 Most complicated math--a couple of simple formulas to tally the total number of
copies (pages) and the total amount due.
Note on printing in EXCEL: Can choose to either keep the gridlines, or turn them off.
On the Accounts sheets, turned them off so they looked like the “regular” paper charge
sheets that most of the other departments turn in [ show “REGULAR” ACCOUNTS
SHEET]. [Refer to the first page of the green handout]
Great feature of Excel lets you take data from one cell and transfer it automatically to
any other cell on any other sheet that you want. Updating that cell updates wherever you
transferred that information as well. Using that feature, we created:
 notices of arrival
 second notices
 bookstraps
 overdue notices
[Show: NOTICE OF ARRIVAL/SECOND NOTICE/SIGN SHEET]
[Show: BOOKSTRAP]
[Second page of the green handout] Point out how these forms look in Excel and how
it prints out without the gridlines.
Using these same features of Excel—cell-copying, printing without gridlines--we have
also created other forms such as an ALA ILL request form [Show EXCEL ALA/ALA
W/O GRIDLINES]
Excel statistics sheets:
 OCLC and GOLD both provide statistical reports, but don’t break down figures to
the level that is sometimes required of us.
 OCLC does offer the ILL Management Statistics report--a large monthly data set--can
manipulate with Excel or Access--costs $450 a year.
 But back when we started, this option didn’t exist.
Created two templates to be used each month:
 One contains three worksheets—activity with other Georgia Libraries, activity with
other southeastern libraries, and activity with the rest of the country and the world.
Enter raw data and tally.
 Second template is the annual summary sheet with information transferred from the
first template. Enter tallies from each month and calculate aggregate figures.
As mentioned before, we are often asked to supply statistics in a variety of configurations
for a variety of reasons.
Show examples from the two templates:
 Aggregate number of copies we supplied to other GIL libraries in the past year.
 Aggregate figures of our acivity with ALL Georgia Libraries
 Breakout of activity with the two Georgia ARL libraries--Emory and Georgia Tech-by returnables and nonreturnables.
 How Emory and Georgia Tech feed into the southeastern ARL statistics
 How the southeastern ARL figures feed into the grand total of all ARL activity
[Point out yellow handout for examples]
Disadvantages of using our method:
 Have to handle thousands of pieces of paper (OCLC forms each month)
 Have restricted ourselves in the way we have set up the statistics
 Not tracking books borrowed by LC class, or patron by department
Conclusion:
 No regrets. Given the period in UGA’s ILL history, the economic climate, and other
factors, we did the best we could with what we had.
 But with goal of trying to drastically cut down on paper files, we frankly hope that
this method will soon be a thing of the past.
 However, if you don’t have an integrated ILL management package, and if it looks
like you won’t be getting one soon, then Excel is a good and flexible choice of
software to help you out.
 Side benefit--knowing Excel basics is helpful in many situations. As UGA begins to
deal with setting up for ILLiad, we have found that some principles acquired in
learning Excel have been helpful as we begin implementing ILLiad.
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