The document discusses the benefits of OCLC Knowledge Base (KB), which allows for more efficient requesting and sharing of electronic journal articles between libraries. KB automatically matches article requests to specific library holdings, selects potential lending libraries, and sends requests directly to them. This streamlines the requesting process, cutting average turnaround times to under two days. KB also exposes open access materials and boosts lending activity while reducing processing times, as requests come pre-linked to full text articles. Overall, KB facilitates faster, hands-free requesting and delivery of e-journal content between institutional libraries.

1. WORKFLOW & BENEFITS
OF OCLC KNOWLEDGE BASE
Alison Johnson
Jackson Library
Indiana Wesleyan University
alison.johnson@indwes.edu

2. OCLC KNOWLEDGE BASE
What is it?
•
•
A tool for making your electronic article
holdings available for resource sharing
Article-level holdings data provides more
efficient requesting

3. WORKFLOW
Borrowing:
•
•
•
•
Patron places a request.
Request is automatically matched with an OCLC
record.
Request is automatically matched with lending
KB libraries from your Custom Holdings groups.
Request is automatically sent out to be filled.
Allows for hands-free article requesting!

4. WORKFLOW
Document Delivery:
•
•
•
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Patron places an article request
Request is automatically recognized as owned
electronically by your library.
Request is automatically sent to a special queue
for processing.
Staff uses the supplied KB link to go directly to
the e-article for delivery to the patron.
Notifies staff immediately if a patron
requests something you own and takes you
directly to the article!

5. WORKFLOW

6. WORKFLOW
Lending:
•
•
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Requests from your e-journal holdings are sent
to a separate queue
Request contains a link to the full-text as well
and lending permissions/instructions
Deliver full-text article to library or cancel
Notifies staff of lending permissions and
takes you directly to the article!

7. WORKFLOW

8. BENEFITS
Faster Borrowing of e-Journal Articles
•
Tired of not knowing who owns what on
“Internet Resource” records
•
Tired of deflections and “not owned”

9. BENEFITS
Faster Borrowing of e-Journal Articles
•
KB knows which libraries own each
particular e-journal article.
•
KB allows for Direct Request of articles.
•
KB automatically selects lenders and sends
request.

10. BENEFITS
Faster Borrowing of e-Journal Articles
How much faster???
•
For us, four days (on average)
•
Our total turn-around time for article
requests processed by KB is just under two
days.
•
Could be faster, but we stop all requests to
check Copyright before sending out
(evenings and weekends slow things down)

11. BENEFITS
Faster Borrowing of e-Journal Articles
Why is it faster?
•
Direct Request bypasses manual processing
by staff
And even if you don’t use Direct Request…
•
KB selects lenders who actually own the
article and know their licensing permissions
•
KB lenders can process the request fast
because they get links to the full-text

12. BENEFITS
Exposes Open Access materials
•
KB has built-in Open Access collections that
you can turn on.
•
You will get a link to the Open Access item if
your patron requests it.
•
You also get the link if another library
requests an Open Access item from you.

13. BENEFITS
Exposes Open Access materials
•
Boost your lending activity because these
collections show up as part of your holdings.
•
Not always well-maintained by publishers,
but you can turn them on or off at will.

14. BENEFITS
Boosts your lending activity
•
Our lending activity has increased by 24%
even though our books loans have decreased.
Why would we want more work?
• KB requests are quick and easy to fill because
of the links to full-text.
• KB request takes less than one minute to
process compared to more than ten minutes
to retrieve and scan.
• You can process more requests in less time…
and you don’t have to get off your chair! 