This past fall the NMRLS Executive Board agreed with the recommendation to dissolve the NMRLS ILL Committee (please see ILL Committee Dissolved, November 2004). After accomplishing a great deal since NMRLS' founding in 1997, it was determined that the ILL Committee had run its course. In recognition of those who served on the Committee and the Regional ILL Centers, here are a few of the milestones the ILL Committee accomplished in its seven years.

Delivery sub-committees
The ILL Committee was always involved with delivery issues, advising on the process and forming sub-committees to examine new vendor proposals, the most recent being in July 2003. The NMRLS Delivery Bid Evaluation Task Force (2003) was comprised of Linda Dyndiuk (Westford), Susan Grabski (NMRLS), Greg Pronevitz (NMRLS), and Doug Rendell (Danvers). It is expected that ad hoc committees devoted to delivery issues and delivery vendor contracts will be formed when necessary by the NMRLS Executive Board.

Annual ILL Center Open House
Another offshoot of the ILL Committee is the Annual ILL Center Open House/User Meetings. These have always been a great way to meet the ILL Librarians at the two Regional ILL Centers, Anna Kjoss (Memorial Hall, Andover) and Marilyn Graves (NOBLE, Danvers). The Annual ILL Center Open House/User Meetings are being planned for the near future and again will be a way to meet the ILL Center staffs as well as provide member libraries an open forum for ILL and delivery issues.

Regional ILL Policies
Due to a 24% budget cut suffered by NMRLS in FY 2003, ways were sought to help bring costs in line with and better utilize ILL Center services. The ILL Committee was instrumental in creating new cost-saving ILL policies for the Region and forwarding their recommendations to the NMRLS Executive Board. These policies were originally implemented in November of 2002. In May 2004, the ILL Committee re-examined the policies and rescinded some of the restrictions. For current Regional ILL Policies go to: www.nmrls.org/ill/ILL_FAQ.shtml.

NMRLS Interlibrary Loan Best Practices Task Force Report
In 2002 the ILL Committee formed a Best Practices Task Force to look at how other states handle ILLs and hoped to incorporate some of these "best practices" into Regional ILL service. The following year, the final report was issued and the ILL Committee was pleased that Regional ILL procedures already followed those models used by other successful networks around the country. Serving on the committee were Scott Kehoe (NMRLS), Mary Ann Blair (Winthrop), Marilyn Graves (NOBLE), Anna Kjoss (Andover), Kevin McGrath (Beverly High School), and Kristina Worcester (Westford). To download a copy of the report, go to: www.nmrls.org/ill/

Regional Interlibrary Loan Manual and Best Practices
One of the last acts of the ILL Committee was approving the Regional Interlibrary Loan Manual and Best Practices statement. This was an unexpected long-term project for the committee, being on its agenda from nearly its inception. The Regional ILL Centers' Marilyn Graves (NOBLE) and Anna Kjoss (Andover), along with NMRLS Committee liaison, Scott Kehoe, worked over a number of years to prepare the manual. The ILL Committee and the NMRLS Executive Board approved the Manual and Best Practices statement in 2004. The documents are available online at www.nmrls.org/ill/ILL%20Manual.htm