fILL-osophy
For the last decade, Manitoba public libraries have been using a PLSB-developed resource discovery tool ("Maplin") to find Interlibrary Loan sources within the Manitoba public library community. The earliest version of Maplin was simply a union catalogue; as technology progressed and individual libraries' ILS systems gained Z39.50 server capabilities, Maplin became a Z39.50-based "distributed virtual union catalogue" - a single front-end which can find titles in any Manitoba public library and initiate an ILL request, via email.

This has worked well enough for resource discovery, but - as confirmed by a recent PLSB survey on ILL procedures - has led to each library (and sometimes each branch) developing their own procedures and workflows for handling the rest of the ILL life cycle.  These run the gamut from custom-developed database systems to paper files; there is little consistency in procedures, the tracking of statistics is error-prone, and workloads can be heavy. One of Manitoba's unique challenges is balancing the capabilities of various ILS systems in the province to realize an effective discovery layer.

PLSB has developed the next evolution of Maplin - fILL - which incorporates full ILL life cycle management, following the structure set out in ISO 10161 (Interlibrary Loan Application Protocol Specification).  This application, like Maplin-3, is a centrally-hosted system that requires nothing more than a Javascript-enabled web browser to use.

A key element in the design of fILL is simplicity.  We want to make things as easy as possible on the beleaguered ILL staff of the libraries.  All of the common functions necessary for dealing with the life cycle of an interlibrary loan - shipping, receiving, marking as unfilled, returning, requesting extensions, and finally marking an item as checked-in - can be done with a simple mouse click.  Pull lists are sorted in call # order by default.  Active or historical requests can be looked up by patron barcode, borrowing or lending library, title or author, date, or the status of the request.  Requests can be easily (eventually automatically) forwarded to the next available source if a given library cannot fill it.

A second key element is adaptability.  The system should be able fit relatively seamlessly into most existing workflows.  And though most benefit will come from fully using fILL to manage all aspects of ILL, the system is not be dependent on every library fully participating.

The third key element is extensibility.  The fILL prototype implements a subset of the ISO 10161 transactions; as need arises, this can be fleshed out to include more of the ISO standard.  The system itself is Linux-based, uses common FOSS subsystems (Apache, PostgreSQL, the YAZ Z39.50 toolkit from Index Data), and is written in Perl and Javascript / jQuery.  Because it is designed around the standard message types from ISO 10161, it should be relatively easy to have fILL emit and consume protocol messages to easily interact with any existing ILL management system that a library may have in place.

Our vision is smoother workflows, better statistics, reduced work load for the libraries, and an Interlibrary Loan system more responsive to the needs of our ultimate clients, the patrons.