Fact Sheet DOCLINE
Introduction
DOCLINE is the National Library of Medicine's automated interlibrary
loan (ILL) request routing and referral system. The purpose of the system
is to provide improved document delivery service among libraries in the National Network
of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) by linking journal holdings to
efficiently route the requests to potential lending libraries on behalf of
the borrower.
Requests can be created, edited, routed, received, and filled in this
system. DOCLINE participants can also check the status of requests for
which they are either the borrowing or lending library. The online manual,
available through the system, assists the user through the steps needed to
accomplish these functions.
Participation in DOCLINE
DOCLINE serves over 3,200 U.S., Canadian, and Mexican medical libraries
at no cost. Some selected national and major medical libraries in other
countries also have DOCLINE access. Health sciences libraries and
libraries at institutions with a health sciences mission are eligible to
apply for access to the DOCLINE system. Libraries may join DOCLINE as part
of their affiliation with the NN/LM as either a full member or affiliate
member. See DOCLINE
Eligibility Guidelines for a full description. All potential U.S.
DOCLINE libraries must contact their Regional Medical
Library (RML) to determine their level of eligibility and apply for
participation. The toll free phone number for all eight regions is:
800-338-7657 (RMLs). The RML will establish records for new DOCLINE users,
assign them login codes and passwords, and assist them through the
application process.
Libraries in Canada should contact the Canada Institute for
Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI).
Libraries in Mexico should contact Ms. Re Mishra at the Houston Academy of Medicine Texas
Medical Center Library or call (713)799-7880 for information about
getting started with DOCLINE. Questions may also be directed to Ms. Marcicela Piña a Pozos at the
Centro de Información Para Decisiones en Salud / CENIDS in Tlalpan,
Mexico.
Libraries in other parts of the world should send an email to: custserv@nlm.nih.gov to inquire
about DOCLINE participation. Please include information about the nature
of your institution, the size of your collection, who you serve and
whether you are willing to serve patrons outside of your institution or
country.
Description of DOCLINE System
DOCLINE consists of three main functions: 1) DOCUSER - user
institutional information, including address, contact names, interlibrary
loan services, NN/LM membership information, and routing tables; 2)
SERHOLD - journal holdings information; and 3) REQUESTS, the functions of
Borrow, Lend and Status/Cancel.
DOCUSER
All DOCLINE participants maintain their own institutional records in
the DOCUSER module of DOCLINE. A DOCUSER record represents the description
of one library, including the institutional name and address, interlibrary
loan policy data, and routing information. If an institution has more than
one library associated with it, each will have a separate DOCUSER record.
Each DOCUSER library is assigned a LIBID (Library Identifier) that is used
throughout the system.
Libraries establish routing tables in DOCUSER based on the collections
of journal holdings reported to SERHOLD, and according to their own local
routing patterns. Requests are routed only to libraries which are included
in the stored routing table of the borrower and which are identified as
holders of the requested material. The system automatically balances the
workload among potential lenders. Requesters also have the option to
select one preferred lender for each request. If that lender does not fill
the request, automatic routing then occurs.
REQUESTS
To create an interlibrary loan request, the borrowing library selects
from a menu of four request options from which the process may begin. 1)
PubMed (user orders directly from PubMed and saves order to DOCLINE). 2)
LOCATORplus (user orders non-MEDLINE titles using NLM's online catalog).
3) Unique Key: If a user already has a PubMed Unique Identifier (PMID), an
NLM unique identifier, an OCLC number or ISSN, they may select the "Unique
Key" feature and begin a request there. Each request can be edited quickly
to add information, change default information or correct errors before
releasing the request to the system for routing to a potential lending
library. 4) If the user has searched and cannot locate a title in PubMed
or LOCATORplus, they may select the MANUAL feature. MANUAL
requests do not route automatically. They route according to a
user-designated M/A/N Map (monograph, audiovisual, non-SERHOLD routing
map).
DOCLINE users may check the status of their requests both as a borrower
and lender. Lenders receive and print their requests daily at their local
workstations. After a request is either filled or not filled, the lender
updates the record so the borrower is informed of its status. DOCLINE also
manages the length of time a potential lender may hold onto a request
before responding through a series of "time-triggered" actions. The system
provides warnings to lenders if requests are pending and no action has
been taken.
SERHOLD
Data collected and stored in the SERHOLD
module of DOCLINE provides the information used by DOCLINE's automatic
routing feature. SERHOLD contains over 1.4 million journal holdings for
about 3,200 libraries. Libraries may add, edit or delete SERHOLD records
at any time. DOCLINE routing depends on the accuracy of SERHOLD records.
Loansome Doc
Individual users of NLM's PubMed and the NLM Gateway do not have access
to DOCLINE, but they can make use of its services by ordering documents
through Loansome
Doc, a document ordering feature. All PubMed or NLM Gateway users
ordering documents must identify a DOCLINE library or libraries that are
willing to serve them (Ordering Library). The health professional performs
a PubMed or NLM Gateway search, reviews the citations retrieved, and
identifies specific documents to be ordered. Orders are sent to DOCLINE
from either PubMed or the NLM Gateway. The NLM PubMed server manages all
document-ordering activities.
Management Information
Each DOCLINE member library receives quarterly summary reports on its
activity as a lender and as a borrower. These reports are available
online. Reports in greater depth including, for example, collection
development data, are produced annually.
Service Desk
For assistance with using DOCLINE or for questions about the system,
send an email to: custserv@nlm.nih.gov or call the
DOCLINE Service Desk at 1-888-FINDNLM (346-3656).
Training and Documentation
DOCLINE is easy to learn without formal training; however, many RML's
do offer training sessions. The DOCLINE
Manual is available online at:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/docline/docline_manual/docline_manual_toc.html. In
addition, all DOCLINE participants are encouraged to subscribe to NLM's
electronic mail discussion list, DOCLINE-L, through which important
announcements are made, including new features or scheduled downtime.
Instructions for subscribing to DOCLINE-L are available at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/docline/newdocline_l.html.
Additional information about DOCLINE may be found on NLM's DOCLINE System page
at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/docline/.
Availability
DOCLINE is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with the
exception of scheduled downtime for system maintenance. For further
information concerning DOCLINE please contact:
Collection Access Section National Library of Medicine 8600
Rockville Pike Bethesda, MD
20894 301/496-5511 1-888-FINDNLM Internet: custserv@nlm.nih.gov
A complete list of NLM Fact Sheets is available at:
(alphabetical list) http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/factsheets.html
(subject list): http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/factsubj.html
Or write to:
FACT SHEETS Office of Communications and Public Liaison National
Library of Medicine 8600 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Maryland 20894
Phone: (301) 496-6308 Fax: (301) 496-4450 email: publicinfo@nlm.nih.gov
First published: 25 March 2003 Last updated: 25 March 2003 Date Archived: 29 January 2004 Metadata | Permanence level: Permanent: Stable Content Replaced by
|