Learner guide: Introduction to OCLC Interlibrary Loan

OCLC Policies Directory

Add or update your library’s information in the OCLC Policies Directory either as a Borrowing or Lending library. Some key areas to review include Contacts and Policies for copies, loans, and deflections.

Once logged in to WorldShare Interlibrary Loan, click the link from the WorldShare Interlibrary Loan Home screen to go to the OCLC Policies Directory. See Prepare and plan for more information.

Constant data

Maintain administrative settings for WorldShare Interlibrary Loan, such as constant data, in OCLC Service Configuration. Click the link from the WorldShare Interlibrary Loan Home screen to go to OCLC Service Configuration.

Constant data allows you to create data records, including your library’s information, that can be saved and applied to both borrowing and lending requests. Constant data saves you time while creating or answering ILL requests. See Constant Data to find documentation and a short video tutorial on this topic.

OCLC Interlibrary Loan Fee Management (IFM)

The OCLC® Interlibrary Loan Fee Management (IFM) allows libraries to reconcile resource sharing charges and payments through their OCLC monthly invoice. See how to configure and manage IFM.

Custom holdings

The Custom Holdings feature allows you to pre-select the lending libraries of your preference or your priority borrowing libraries to be applied to your requests. Custom Holdings uses your criteria to automatically populate the lender string on your requests and can be used to set  ILL policies as a Lending library. First you create your Custom Holdings Group(s) to select the libraries, then you define your Custom Holdings Path for the group(s).

OCLC Community Center

Take advantage of the OCLC Community Center where you can interact with staff at other libraries using WorldShare Interlibrary Loan, learn about updates and training opportunities, and suggest enhancements to the service.

Create ILL accounts

If you already use WorldShare Management Services, WorldShare Collection Manager, or WorldShare License Manager, you have an existing OCLC Services account that gives you access to several services in the WorldShare platform. Before you log on for the first time, you will need to work with someone at your institution who has administrative rights to add permissions to your account. Refer to Create a WorldShare ILL account for further information.

Create ILL loan and copy requests

Once you have worked on the preparations for using WorldShare ILL then you can start creating ILL loan and copy requests and updating your requests.