MassCat ILL Pilot Project Takes Off! By Nora Blake, MassCat Manager

The MassCat resource sharing network has been engaged in an Interlibrary Loan Pilot Project. Twelve of our member libraries have agreed to participate in this project. The libraries have agreed to make the MassCat system their first priority for placing and responding to ILL requests. These 12 pilot project participants have also agreed to allow their library users to place their own requests for items they want to borrow, rather than asking the librarian to fill the request on their behalf.

The libraries participating in the MassCat ILL Pilot Project are:

• Algonquin Regional High School (Northborough)
• Apponequet Regional High School (Lakeville)
• Beverly High School (Beverly)
• Dartmouth High School (Dartmouth)
• Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School (South Yarmouth)
• Lenox Memorial Middle/High School (Lenox)
• Maimonides School (Brookline)
• Pelham Library (Pelham)
• Sherborn Library (Sherborn)
• St. John's Preparatory School (Danvers)
• St. Julie Library, St. Michael's Parish Schools (Hudson)

To date, this project has been very successful in increasing the use of the ILL system in MassCat. During the first three months of the project, 386 ILL requests have been sent to other libraries within the MassCat system. This is almost double the amount of requests that were sent out during the 12 months prior to the implementation of this project and it is nearly 10 times the amount of ILL requests that were sent out for the same 3 months the year before!

The project has also helped to increase awareness and use of the ILL system among libraries that are not part of the pilot project library group. Many libraries are receiving requests from the libraries involved in the pilot project as well as from libraries that are not part of the project. Many libraries are realizing that MassCat is a great place to look for many of the resources that their library users want to borrow.