EFTS Comes to the Pacific Southwest
As we go to press with this issue of Latitudes, the first library in the Pacific Southwest Region has joined EFTS, the Electronic Funds Transfer System. This early innovator is the Library of the California Academy of Sciences located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
Larry Currie, User Services Librarian at the Academy Library, is very enthusiastic about the potential of EFTS based on his experience with OCLC's Interlibrary Loan Fee Management system. The library has 259 titles in SERHOLD and is a net lender in DOCLINE, filling about 60 loans during their first year of DOCLINE participation. Although the Academy Library focuses on natural history, the basic science material in the collection might be of interest to many NN/LM members. Larry was very enthusiastic about the speedy service he received recently when an article was delivered electronically from NLM; consequently he was pleased to learn that NLM plans to send billing information to EFTS in January 2003, for the billing quarter October - December 2002. The Academy Library's lending policies and charging schema are available at http://www.calacademy.org/research/library/policies.htm. The library uses Clio software for interlibrary loan data management. The most recent version of Clio has an EFTS report writing capability; the library plans to use this software to prepare the data file on loan charges to send to EFTS.
Another forward step is DOCLINE version 1.4, which is scheduled for release on September 10. This version will have a number of changes to DOCUSER, including a new field indicating EFTS participation as well as the date the library joined EFTS. PSRML will update these fields and will also add the participating library to the EFTS library group for new EFTS participants from the Pacific Southwest Region. The EFTS designation will appear on the print copies of DOCLINE Requests, making it easy for lending libraries to identify EFTS participants. Future DOCLINE releases will undoubtedly include additional enhancements for EFTS participants.
EFTS headquarters has important news for us as well. The University of Connecticut has hired Colleen Giblin to manage EFTS operational activities. Colleen's previous accounting experience will prove to be a great asset. The EFTS web site has been redesigned, and some of the terminology is changing. For example, the web site now has a Registration Form instead of an Application Form. Colleen also suggests that we think of EFTS as a debit card system instead of the previous analogy as a credit card system. To keep up with changes in this evolutionary system, you might want to sign up for EFTS-L, the new electronic discussion list. Go to the EFTS web site at http://efts.uchc.edu/ for complete information.
EFTS will be a major item on the agenda of the Resource Library Directors meeting that will be held at UCLA on September 18, 2002. Resource Libraries, like other net lenders, must submit a file to EFTS that includes charging information. Many of our Resource Libraries are currently in transition or transitioning to new interlibrary loan management systems. Because of their central role in the Regional Document Delivery Plan, PSRML will post notices on our regional electronic announcements list as these libraries become part of EFTS.
Electronic bill paying, like electronic delivery, is definitely an important step to enhance the interlibrary loan process. In fact, the "Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States: Explanatory Supplement -- For Use with the Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States (January 2001)" from the ALA web site specifically encourages libraries to participate, and mentions EFTS saying:
"Libraries are encouraged to use electronic invoicing capabilities such as OCLC's Interlibrary Loan Fee Management (IFM) system or the Electronic Fund Transfer System used by medical libraries."
(see the complete document at http://www.ala.org/rusa/stnd_ill_supp.html)
Would you like more information about EFTS? Take a look at the following:
- The EFTS web site - you will find the Registration Form, the Memorandum of Agreement, a list of participants, policies and procedures, etc.
http://efts.uchc.edu/ - Guide to EFTS in the Pacific Southwest Region - from the PSRML web site, under Document Delivery
http://nnlm.gov/psr/efts.html - Questions and Answers about EFTS, the Electronic Funds Transfer System - prepared by PSRML for the Resource Library Directors meeting and linked at the bottom of the above-mentioned Guide
http://nnlm.gov/psr/pdf/QAefts.pdf - "Considerations for EFTS: Members Maintaining a Routing Table in DOCLINE 1.3," an article in the July 2002 issue of National Networker, the newsletter of the Hospital Libraries Section of the Medical Library Association
- "Electronic Funds Transfer System: Next Steps"
Latitudes vol. 11, no. 4, July/August 2002
http://nnlm.gov/psr/lat/v11n4/efts_next.html - "The Electronic Funds Transfer System"
Latitudes vol. 11, no. 4, May/June 2002
http://nnlm.gov/psr/lat/v11n4/efts_next.html
Please contact Julie Kwan at PSRML if you have any questions about EFTS. (Phone: 800-338-7567, 310-825-5342. Email: jkkwan@library.ucla.edu) - JK
[Editor's Note: At the end of August, the EFTS web site worked best with Internet Explorer. If you experience any problems, please contact the EFTS offices at (860) 679-4500.]