no.2547-CARL SUMO responses

From: Paul Metz <pmetz_at_vt.edu>

[This is in response to no.2538, reproduced below with Paul's summary
following.]

no. 2538. From: Paul Metz <pmetz_at_vt.edu>

I am interested in knowing the experiences -- successful, unsuccessful, and
never tried it -- ARL libraries have had with CARL Reveal's SUMO services
for unmediated document delivery. 

Feel free to just give me a global response, but specific questions I do
have include:
1. are you screening against your holdings so that only serials not
	in your collections can be ordered?
2. what's your volume of activity and the consequent cost?
3. do you have means of metering so that a few individuals don't
	exhaust your resources (three possibilities here: not a problem; problem,
	we solved it thus; unsolved problem);
4. would you enter into it again?

Thanks in advance.

Paul Metz, Director, Collection Management and College-Based Services
Virginia Tech University Libraries

===Response===

This is to thank those who responded to my recent inquiry about the use of
CARL's SUMO service for unmediated patron access. I heard from six
libraries, four of them ARL's. I can only speculate whether so few
responses indicates low CARL usage or list fatigue.

Generalizing, the smaller institutions have found it a useful niche backup
for their collections. Two of the ARL's have had light use due to light
publicity. The other two are filling ca. 4,000 orders/year with unit costs
ca. $18, plus some fixed overhead.

All who volunteered an answer to the question said they would do it again.
But all reported problems, including:

        * poor Fax quality;

        * disappointing results with desktop delivery, leading to its
suspension;

        * "a few pigs in the trough," "use narrow but deep," in other words
use spread over too few  people, and them heavy users;

        * problems matching against holdings (which all do -- no one is
willing to subsidize delivery for materials in the library; some try to
match at volume level and some just disallow doc delivery for periodicals
with current subs);

        * not terribly satisfied with CARL's responsiveness.

Thanks again all, hope this is useful. Happy Holidays to all, 
and Go Hokies!


Paul Metz, Director, Collection Management and College-Based Services
           Virginia Tech University Libraries
           P.O. Box 90001 / Blacksburg VA / 24062-9001
Ph: (540) 231-5663  FAX: (540) 231-3694  e-mail: pmetz_at_vt.edu