PROCEDURES & PROTOCOLS

Students and staff of member universities of the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee, who are not otherwise eligible to borrow from another university under a regional borrowing scheme, are eligible to borrow from any other member university under the University Library Australia -- the national borrowing scheme for Australia's universities. 

It is recognised that contractual arrangements presently exist within several states, it is hoped that, over time, there may be a convergence towards the principles and practices defined for ULA. It is hoped also that, over time, technology and the goodwill of all parties will allow the procedures of ULA to develop to a degree of operational sophistication well beyond the manual routines with which it will start.

ULA aims at a number of things:

1. A minimum of effort at home and host libraries
2. A free service to users (other than fees charged as penalties)
3. Home libraries indemnify host libraries against problems
4. Service use is recorded to assist future planning

A national scheme which complements current regional schemes and is simple to use for both the borrower and the library staff.

5. It is recommended that the guiding principles of this scheme, the vision of a free, open, simple national scheme, be considered by members of regional RBS* when reviewing local operations.
6. Host libraries retain the right to set local conditions of access, and local fees.

         7. All students and staff from AVCC member universities. This will include inter alia:

1. distance education students
2. students based at remote campuses ie at a campus of a university whose main campus is in another state or another metropolitan area

8. For students.

1. A photo ID and proof of current enrolment.


9. For staff.

1. A photo ID and proof of current employment/affiliation.

10.  If a borrower is eligible to register then he/she is indemnified by their home library.

The home library indemnifies, and will indemnify, the host institution for loss of, or damage to, library materials as a result of their students or staff borrowing from the other library.  The borrower is responsible for any penalties incurred.

Borrowers should be made aware that their personal details and details of their loans may be conveyed between home and host libraries.

11.  Registration is completed at the host institution. The goal is for the borrower to walk into the host library and register "on the spot" – the time to complete the transaction is at the discretion of the host library – if not able to be completed on the spot, then the borrower card will be mailed to the borrower, or may be collected at a later date if the borrower prefers.

A secondary goal is to reduce the involvement of library staff in the enrolment process.

A long-term goal may be to register on-line and have the borrower home record sent directly to the host institution.

Host libraries may wish to offer partial registration online.

12. The expiry date of all enrolments will be 28^th February of the year following registration.

13.  The host library will use normal means to manage overdue books by ULA borrowers.
14.  All fines and charges are at the discretion of the host library.
15.  The home library will be notified of their delinquent borrowers at least once a year, no later than 31^st October.
16.  This notification need contain no more information than that required to identify the borrower.
17.  The home library may impose appropriate sanctions on their borrower.
18.  There will be no central block list.
19.  Potential borrowers will be alerted to the fact that infringements at the host library may result in the imposition of sanctions in their home library.
Host libraries need time to recover the missing books before the borrowers have left the control of their home university. It is assumed that they would prefer the book returned than the replacement costs received.

Home libraries need time to recover the missing books or the replacement costs from their students/staff while they still have some hold over them, to reduce the payments made on behalf of their own delinquent borrowers.

Some institutions may not allow their library to sanction a student for borrowing activity at another library, however they should do so whenever allowable.

A central block list has implications for borrower privacy, and imposes an unnecessary extra step in the registration process.

20.  The host library will determine levels of access for ULA borrowers, ie numbers of loans and which collections are available to ULA borrowers, but it is recommended that access levels be commensurate with those of the equivalent home borrowers.
21.  Host libraries should consider the impact of generous levels of access on the indemnity exposure of the home library.

The original aim of ULA was to be fee-free, for both registrations and loans, however some libraries now charge $50 registration fee + gst.

The imposition of charges of any kind imposes an additional administrative load, and consequent costs.

Notwithstanding the national guidelines, should a library choose to impose charges, these would necessarily be imposed directly on the borrower registering at the host institution. Any recoup of these charges from the home library would impose an additional administrative load and consequent costs.

Fees are used in some RBSs to deter registrations. It is not considered necessary for the ULA.

Note that the JISC compensates the UK’s net lenders for the use of their libraries from a central fund.

It was affirmed that libraries are pre-competitive and should be considered as a national resource.

22.  The minimum level of statistics to be maintained by the host library:

1. number of registrations of ULA borrowers
2. number of loans to ULA borrowers
23.  Highly desirable –
1. the number of ULA registrants broken down by home institution
2. number of delinquent borrowers
24.  Recommend that CAUL statistics include Population: ULA Users (2004 - )
(Registered users from other universities) 
25.  Recommend that CAUL statistics include Loans: ULA (2004 - )
(Loans - Loans by borrowers from other universities (ULA/ULNZ))
26.  Recommend that CAUL statistics include an appended matrix showing cross-institution borrowing
Some institutions may not be able to track details of the home institution.

Home institutions will want to know where their students are borrowing.

Host institutions will want to know whose students are using their services.

It will be noted that loans data is not comparable because of varying loan conditions such as loan period, but a comparison of loan data will show trends.

27.  A web-site constitutes the primary infrastructure of the ULA
28.  An FAQ for both borrowers and staff will be included on the ULA web-site. 
• The person who initiates the FAQ takes ownership of it until it is ready to go up on the web site ie redrafts following comments from the working group, and signs off on it when finished - keep the response time to a week - then announce the final version to the ULA list, and the CAUL Office will copy it to the web site.
29.  The current working group will remain together until the end of the introductory period and review.
Any library planning changes to its barcode format may consider using a standardised format to reduce the need for additional borrowing cards.

Publicity.

30.  Web-site for program information.
31.  Brochure template and/or bookmark

Brochure information to be generic and high level – how to borrow from the "university of Australia"

Information about ULA to be clearly conveyed to library staff.