DOCLINE libraries in the Pacific Southwest Region are overwhelmingly moving to the Electronic Funds Transfer System (EFTS) and to reciprocal groups for resource sharing, such as FreeShare. As a result, both the Medical Library Group of Southern California and Arizona (MLGSCA) and the Northern California and Nevada Medical Library Group (NCNMLG) are planning to end their coupon sales and redemption programs. Although coupons played a very useful role for libraries to share among themselves in the days of paper-based interlibrary loan, they do not work well in today’s electronic based system.

MLGSCA and NCNMLG have announced plans for member libraries to redeem their coupons and to be reimbursed by check. Redemption of coupons will begin on January 1, 2008, and will end on December 31, 2008. The redemption check will be made payable to your organization or to EFTS. Some libraries may wish to use the redemption check to establish an account with EFTS or to replenish an existing account. Regardless of to whom the check is made payable, the check will be sent to you. The amount of the check will be based on the $2 face value of each coupon.

If you have coupons from either organization, here’s what you should do:

To redeem MLGSCA coupons:

1. Check the redemption schedule at the end of this article to determine when your library is eligible to redeem coupons. Use your institution name, not your library name, when consulting the schedule. (If you send in your coupons before your scheduled time, your coupons will be held until your specific month.)
2. Remove all staples from coupons and bundle them into packets of 20.
3. Fill out the MLGSCA Coupon Redemption form. It can be found at the following URL:
   http://www.mlgsca.mlanet.org/forms/coupon_form.pdf.
4. If you have questions about redeeming MLGSCA coupons, please contact Kathleen Carlson, MLGSCA ILL Coupon Exchange Manager, by email to kathleen.carlson@asu.edu or by phone (602) 496-0683.
5. Send your BLUE MLGSCA coupons to be exchanged to the following address:
   

   MLGSCA ILL Coupon Exchange Manager
   PO Box 6006
   Irvine, CA 92616-6006

To redeem NCNMLG coupons:

1. Check the redemption schedule at the end of this article to determine when your library is eligible to redeem coupons. Use your institution name, not your library name, when consulting the schedule. (If you send in your coupons before your scheduled time, your coupons will be held until your specific month.)
2. Remove all staples from coupons and bundle them into packets of 20.
3. Fill out the NCNMLG coupon redemption form. It can be found at the following URL: http://ncnmlg.org/programs/programs_ill.htm . Indicate on the form if you wish the check made payable to EFTS. NCNMLG will return the check to you. NCNMLG will not set up an EFTS account for you.
4. If you have questions about redeeming coupons, please contact David W. Brown, NCNMLG ILL Coupon Exchange Manager, by email to david.w.brown@kp.org or by phone (510) 625-2369.
5. Send your NCNMLG coupons to be exchanged to the following address:
   

   David W. Brown, MA, MLS
   Library Technical Services Coordinator
   Kaiser Permanente Physician Education and Development
   1800 Harrison St, 21st floor
   Oakland, CA 94612

Redemption Schedule for MLGSCA and NCNMLG Coupons

Send your coupons for redemption according to this schedule; your institution’s name determines your place in the schedule. If you send your coupons in early, your request will be processed during the proper time slot in the schedule.

• January 2008: Institutions A - B
• February 2008: Institutions C
• March 2008: Institutions D-J
• April 2008: Institutions K
• May 2008: Institutions L - O
• June 2008: Institutions P - R
• July 2008: Institutions S
• August 2008: Institutions T - Z
• September - December 2008: Any remaining coupons

If you have any questions about EFTS or reciprocal groups such as FreeShare, please feel free to contact Julie or Marco for assistance or you may call the RML office at (800) 338-7657.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 1:17 pm by Julie Kwan, and is filed under Document Delivery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.