Document Delivery Holiday Schedule

Walden Library’s Document Delivery Service will be unavailable  December 19th, 2009 through January 3rd, 2010.  Library patrons with an active ILLiad account will still be able submit new requests and check their existing requests within the DDS system.  However, new requests will not processed and will not be referred to nor received from our partner institutions during this interim.

If you have a question about Document Delivery during this time, please contact Walden Library’s reference department directly at 1-800-930-0914 or through the Ask A Librarian link on the library home page.

Changes to Document Delivery Policy June 1, 2009

The Walden Document Delivery Service will be restructured starting June 1, 2009.  Document delivery costs have risen 458% over the past year due to increased costs for articles and book chapters (an average of $40 each) and increased demand. Thirty percent of the requests for document delivery are for articles and book chapters already owned by the library. The library doubled the amount of full-text scholarly journals and purchased access to over 14,000 ebooks in the past year. In light of this information, the Walden Library will make the following changes to our Document Delivery Service.

PhD students. If the articles and book chapters requested are not owned by the Walden Library, the articles and book chapters will be requested through our suppliers.

Master’s students. Requests will be reviewed by the librarians who will determine if the item is owned by the library or if sufficient materials on the topic are in the library collection. Master’s students working on research intensive projects such as theses and capstone projects will be put through to the document delivery queue once need is determined.

Undergraduate students. Undergraduates are encouraged to contact the library for help finding what they need. Undergraduate projects generally have a shorter turnaround time than can be met by document delivery. Our expert librarians can help undergraduates find what they need fast.

There will be new forms for Document Delivery Service. Students who have signed up for an ILLiad account will not need to sign up again. Turnaround time is 10-14 days. The 25 requests per month and $50 per article cost limits will continue to be in effect.

All students are encouraged to contact the library about their research needs. Our experts can help you strategize your literature review for a dissertation, show you how to locate peer-reviewed articles and book chapters for classes, and search the Walden databases more efficiently. We have recently expanded our hours of reference service later into the evening so students working late or who are in various time zones can benefit from contact with our professional staff. Thank you for helping the library keep a cap on costs so we can continue to offer you more content and services.

FAQ

Will the service continue to be free?
Yes, we will continue to provide this service at no charge to the student. The library pays our suppliers an average of $40 per article (adding up to thousands of dollars per week.). Students are asked to be sure they need an article before making a request through Document Delivery Service.

How can I make sure my requests get through quickly?
Check the Walden A-Z list first for the journal. If we own it, you can save lots of time by using the full-text available to you for free, immediately on your desktop.

What if I can’t wait 10-14 days?
You can go directly to the publisher to purchase an article. Be sure to check the Walden  Library first so you aren’t buying something we already have! The librarians can also assist you in locating materials at your local library.

I’m a master’s student writing a thesis. How is this going to work for me?
Your request will be sent to a reference librarian who is a specialist in your field of study. The librarian will contact you to discuss your research needs and whether the library might have other resources for your topic. If the librarian determines that specialized resources outside of the Walden library are needed, he or she will add your request to the front of the Document Delivery Service queue.

How will you know if I’m a master’s student or an undergraduate?
The Document Delivery Service form requires this information and student status will be checked before any requests are made to our suppliers.

What can I do with articles and book chapters or book chapters I get from Document Delivery Service?
You may only use articles and book chapters for your own personal use. According to U.S. copyright law you are not allowed to redistribute the article (i.e., send it to other students in your class or anyone else for that matter), record an audio version of it, make paper copies and distribute it, or otherwise transfer it into another medium and distribute it. You may keep an electronic copy for yourself or one paper copy for your own use.

I am a student with disabilities. How will this affect me?
Students with disabilities should contact the Office of Disability Services to make their needs known. The library works with the office to provide materials to students who have special vision or mobility needs.

Please don’t use the comments field to ask a question — this will delay your response considerably. Use the Ask  A Librarian link at the top of  the right hand column!

Document Delivery 101

Lets’ say you’re researching a topic for a class or a project. You’ve been using a variety of databases and search engines, and you think you’ve found a great article citation that speaks directly to your topic. You check the Walden Library, and we don’t own the full text. This might be a good opportunity to try out Walden’s Document Delivery Service!

The Document Delivery Service (DDS) creates partnerships with other academic libraries to obtain articles not owned at Walden and delivers them electronically to you for free. Currently, we have borrowing agreements with the University of Michigan, Indiana University, and the University of Minnesota Biomedical Library.

So when is a good time to use DDS?

Do use DDS when:

• You need a specific article for your research.
• You are working on a literature review for a dissertation.
• You need supporting materials for a final paper or project.
• You want a specific chapter of a book copied.

Don’t use DDS when:

• You are in a hurry or you need a weekly reading. DDS takes 7 to 10 business days to fill a request. No rush requests.
• You don’t have a complete or reliable citation, check with our reference staff first. The more information we get, the faster your request can be filled.
• You want to browse a wide range of articles to narrow a topic. DDS is a costly and inefficient way to conduct the beginning stages of a research project.
• You are looking for a required course reading or an article owned in the Walden databases. We can’t fill those.
• You need to borrow a book or need multiple chapters copied. We no longer ship hard copies.
• In any of these “Don’t” cases, contact the Library reference department directly at 1-800-930-0914 or through our “Ask a Librarian” link.

For more information, click on the “Document Delivery” link under Library Services.

New Document Delivery System

The Walden Library is moving to a new document delivery system on Monday, January 12, 2009 as part of our move from Indiana University.  If you have previously created an account with Indiana University’s DDS, you will need to create a new account in the Walden System. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Document Delivery Service may be delayed during the holidays.

Document delivery offices at our supplier institutions are on reduced hours over the holidays (Dec. 23rd to Jan. 1st).
It may take up to 10 business days to receive a request.