>From: mslyhoff@oyez.law.upenn.edu (Merle J. Slyhoff)
>
>Why do some academic law libraries charge other academic law
>libraries for ILL activities? Aren't we all "in the same boat?"
I suspect that for many of us the short answer is the O & M budget.
The cost of photocopying and postage for free ILL is killing my
O & M budget. I must admit, however, that it isn't the law libraries
that cause the level of activity that is killing us. It is
1) the prison libraries, and
2) the non law libraries in South Dakota who belong to our statewide
network.
We do provide free ILL to other law libraries, but I can foresee a
day in the future when even that may be a problem. The University
Administration seems to think that ILL is free. They don't support it
with anything like staff positions, student wage money, photocopy
money or postage money. Only when we start charging do people begin
to see the hidden costs behind the system.
Mary Brandt Jensen University of South Dakota
Director of the Law Library School of Law
Associate Professor of Law 414 E. Clark St.
MJENSEN@CHARLIE.USD.EDU Vermillion, SD 57069-2390
(605) 677 6363 Fax (605) 677 5417
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