New Jersey's Northwest Regional Library Cooperative (NRLC), one of that state's six Regional Library Cooperatives, has completed installation and training for a multi-type, multi-source, CD-ROM-based interlibrary loan network.
Upon delivery in December, 1988, of the first CD-ROM catalog, public, academic, school, and special libraries in the five-county region began using Auto-Graphics' IMPACT CD-ROM software to create and electronically exchange interlibrary loan requests. Over 50 libraries are now participating in the project.
An initial union data base of over 470,000 unique titles was created from the MARC records contributed by the libraries in the region. Sources for MARC data included OCLC and other bibliographic utilities, a number of local minicomputer-based automated systems, and from non-MARC circulation system and shelf list records converted by Auto-Graphics. A second disc containing nearly 600,000 titles and over one million holdings was distributed in Summer 1989; ongoing cataloging and the inclusion of additional libraries is expected to result in a union data base of over 1,000,000 unique titles by 1991.
Libraries using the IMPACT interlibrary loan module can access records from the CD-ROM catalog with a variety of access points. Bibliographic and holdings information is then transferred automatically to an ILL request form. The completed form is stored to disk for maintenance and tracking, while communication functions transmit requests and reports by electronic mail among participating libraries.
[Contact: Northwest Regional Library Cooperative, (201) 879-2442; or Joel M. Lee, Marketing Manager, Auto-Graphics, Inc., 3201 Temple Avenue, Pomona, CA 91768; (714) 595-7204, (800) 325-7961 (U.S.), or (800) 828-9585 (CA).]
