Don’t know how much you spend on interlibrary loan shipping? Now there’s a simple way to find out. Use this free and easy spreadsheet to estimate your ILL shipping expenses via United State Postal Service. All you need is your borrowing and lending volume; the number of items you ship via USPS. Plug in those numbers and the spreadsheet does all the math comparing Library/Media and 1st Class/Parcel Post rates.

While not as accurate as having an itemized accounting of everything you ship, this calculator will provide a good, conservative estimate based on average material weights (1 pound for books and 2 ounces for articles) and standard shipping materials.

Once we have estimated costs for a Tenn-Share statewide courier, you can compare your estimated USPS rates vs. using the courier.

The deadline for some of our database discounts is fast approaching.  Commitment to the following are due May 13th:

• JSTOR
• Royal Society of Chemistry Journals
• IOP Science Extra

Many other offers have a deadline of June 1st.

Tenn-Share is seeking a forward-looking, dynamic librarian to serve as its Executive Director.

The Executive Director is hired by and reports to the Tenn-Share Board of Directors. S/he leads the day-to-day operation of the organization, negotiates contracts with vendors, and represents Tenn-Share to its members, to other library organizations and to the general public.

Job Description

An April 1 meeting results in formation of an RFP committee to solicit vendors for a statewide courier for interlibrary loan services for library patrons from all types of libraries.

Do libraries in Tennessee need a state-wide courier service? Do libraries in Tennessee want a state-wide courier service? What do you think? These are questions Tenn-Share wants to know.

To this end, Tenn-Share is surveying all members to determine our state’s need for a state-wide, library-to-library courier service. Results will help us explore options for library courier services.

All Tenn-Share member contacts received invitations to complete the survey. If you wish to complete the survey on behalf of your institution, you can use this link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TNcourier

(Want to see what the survey looks like before you take it? Check out this PDF copy.)

The survey will remain open till April 15, 2011. Direct any questions or comments to David Atkins (datkins [at] utl [dot] edu), Head of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Resource Sharing and Document Delivery Department.

Thank you for your support and participation.