Charge

This Task Force will examine the current loan periods in use by BLC member institutions, specifically for ILL and Virtual Catalog transactions, and make recommendations to the Board for possible changes. The Task Force will also consider guidelines for Consortium Card transactions.

The Task Force will be comprised of 5-7 staff members working in Circulation, ILL, the Virtual Catalog, and Collection Development at BLC institutions. One member will be a liaison to the Virtual Catalog Team.

Action items:

• The Task Force will examine loan periods and renewal policies at member institutions for a variety of patron groups and services (including Consortium Cards). The team will examine the feasibility of making borrowing policies consistent among different borrowing methods.
• The Task Force will ask for comments from appropriate Communities of Interest, such as (but not limited to) Resource Sharing, Heads of Collection Development, Circulation, Music & Media, and the Virtual Catalog Users Group.
• The Task Force will report on existing policies and if necessary recommend changes to benefit the BLC’s resource sharing initiatives. The group will explain the rationale behind its recommendation(s).
• The Task Force will submit an Interim Report on its progress to the Management Council by March 29, 2007.
• The Task Force will submit a Final Report, including recommendations, to the Management Council by May 10, 2007. The Board will review the report at the June 2007 business meeting.

Communication:
The Task Force will communicate with the BLC community through applicable Communities of Interest and the Virtual Catalog Users Group.

Goal:
This task force is aligned with the BLC Goal: Resource Sharing, "To offer resource sharing opportunities and expeditious delivery of materials (electronic and print) to support the research and teaching of the BLC's constituency."