You can now log into your ILLiad account and do everything interlibrary loan-related with your UWGB username and password. Now when you log into ILLiad or submit an ILL request from a library database, you’ll be prompted to sign in with your UWGB username and password rather than your 16 digit institutional ID and last name.  Please let us know if you have any issues with the new login.

We’ve had reports of some library patrons getting a message in Search@UW that says “User ID not valid.  Please refer to Library staff for assistance.” We’ve noticed it usually happens when trying to request something from another library.  If this is happening to you, we want to know about it!  Please e-mail libraryweb@uwgb.edu, and we will try to figure out what’s going on.  In the meantime – if you click on the Community Users link instead of the UWGB Students and Staff one, that login will accept the 16-digit barcode on your student ID and your last name, and you will be able to complete your request.

Cofrin Library recently extended the quality and reach of its resource sharing capabilities by agreeing to join in a reciprocal partnership with Minitex. Minitex operates at the University of Minnesota and is a clearing house for a publically supported network of academic, public, state, government and special libraries in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. Minitex is a leader in the field of resource sharing and in 2012 filled nearly 270,636 loan and article requests from libraries in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

This is a great addition to Cofrin Library’s resource sharing network and grants UW-Green Bay ILL free access to the collections of over 491 libraries, which includes all thirteen libraries within the University of Minnesota library network. Minitex is also a part of the South Central Library System Delivery Service, which delivers library materials throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota. Being a part of this network means that materials filled by Minitex should arrive within the 1-3 business days. If you have any questions or comments about this new partnership, please contact Mitchell Scott, Resource Sharing Librarian, at scottm@uwgb.edu.

From July 23 through August 12, Universal Borrowing will be undergoing its yearly system upgrade and will not be available.

Please direct any borrowing request to Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad). Since the library catalog will be down, Worldcat will provide the best platform for searching and requesting materials. You can access Worldcat from the library homepage and request materials using the Find It! button.  If you have any questions, contact the Interlibrary Loan office at interloan@uwgb.edu or 920-465-2385.

Can the value of a library’s services be measured? Most of us would confidently wager that the students who use the library and take advantage of its services are at a distinct academic advantage over the students who do not. Can the advantage that library users gain by using a specific service be quantified? The Cofrin Library recently asked this question and carried out a research project that investigated the institutional use of interlibrary loan at UWGB and what correlations might exist between interlibrary loan use and student academic achievement.

Overall, we found that 19% of the student population uses interlibrary loan and that interlibrary loan use increases as students progress through the university: 12% of freshman use ILL, 16% of sophomores, 22% of juniors, and 27% of seniors.  ILL use also varies within academic disciplines: 39% of social science majors, 32% of humanities majors, 27% of natural science majors and 22% of arts and communication majors.  ILL use also spikes for upper level students in certain academic disciplines: 41% of junior social science students, 46% of senior social science students, 38% of senior humanities students and 35% of senior natural science students.

As for what correlations exist between ILL use and academic achievment, we found that ILL users achieve .20 GPA points higher than the students that do not use Interlibrary Loan.  ILL users averaged a GPA of 3.18 while non-users averaged a GPA of 2.98.  Further division of ILL users revealed even greater gaps in academic achievement with freshman ILL users achieving .42 GPA points higher than non-users and sophomores achieving .29 GPA points higher. Significant gaps also existed when ILL users were divided into their academic disciplines. Overall, we found the largest gaps in GPA to exist for adult degree ILL users (.35 GPA points), humanities ILL users (.29), social science ILL users (.25), natural science ILL users (.23), and professional studies ILL users (.22).

Two exciting institutional developments could arise from this study. First, if we consider the information seeking and research behaviors displayed by ILL users to be the type of model behaviors taught and reinforced in library instructional sessions across campus, we hope to further partner with faculty to incorporate this important library service into more courses.  Second, we hope this institutional analysis of interlibrary loan allows us to make informed collection development decisions that focus on the user groups that have proven to be heavy users of materials that lie outside of the Cofrin Library collection.

If you have any questions about this study or would like a more complete picture of the data and its analysis, please feel free to contact:

Mitchell Scott
Resource Sharing Librarian
scottm@uwgb.edu