The Information Delivery Services (IDS) Project, based in New York, is a mutually supportive resource-sharing cooperative whose 120 members include public and private academic libraries from across the country, the New York Public Library, and the New York State Library (view a list of current members). The Project is based on a strong sense of community among its members and a unified collection perspective. The major goal of the Project is to continually implement and objectively evaluate innovative resource-sharing strategies, policies and procedures that will optimize mutual access to the information resources of all IDS Project libraries. Member libraries sign annual contracts committing to a common set of performance standards. There is an annual membership fee of $1,600.

As libraries continue to face tightening budgets, resource sharing becomes an increasingly important service. A 2008, 2013, 2016, and 2018 recipient of the Rethinking Resource Sharing Innovation Award, the IDS Project offers a resource sharing model that can help libraries maintain efficient and effective information delivery services for their users. The IDS Project is committed to providing improvements to the entire resource sharing community through the ongoing development of innovative tools and promotion of best practices.

The Information Delivery Services (IDS) Project strives to be an innovative model of library cooperation for effective resource sharing through the promotion of community engagement, staff development, best practices, and research & development.

The mission of the IDS Project is to advance the sharing of library resources through collaboration, innovation, and efficiency.

The IDS Project Strategic Plan helps focus the membership and administration on strategies and goals. Goals are six month projects that help IDS to improve services to our members. Strategies are road maps that cover extended periods of time and help guide IDS toward a secure and sustainable future.

The major goal of the Project is to continually implement and objectively evaluate innovative resource-sharing strategies, policies and procedures that will optimize mutual access to the information resources of all IDS Project libraries.

What makes the IDS Project work?

The primary reason for the success of the IDS Project is community focus on effective best practices in resource sharing. The Project places a great deal of emphasis upon support and collaboration. Central to this is the peer advisor program, which assigns volunteer workflow and systems specialists from current member libraries to each new member. The peer advisors help the staff at the joining library to configure ILLiad, optimize  workflows, and implement the technical requirements of the IDS Project. This also helps build personal relationships that form the foundation of a strong community, which gathers every year for the IDS Project Conference. The IDS Project’s listserv provides another forum for members to stay connected throughout the year, further strengthening the IDS Project’s community.

Using the Addon capabilities of ILLiad, the IDS Project has developed a next generation system that allows ILLiad to automatically process article and loan requests, check availability, and eliminate hours of unnecessary clicks. IDS Logic includes a new version of ALIAS, the Lending Availability Service, Borrowing Availability Service, Article Gateway, and several more modules. For more information on IDS Logic, please see the IDS Logic page.

IDS Project libraries are committed to performance standards of 48-hour turnaround times for articles and 72-hour turnaround time for books.

What is the reciprocal agreement among members?

IDS Project libraries work on the fundamental agreement that "Your library is mine and my library is yours." All loan and article requests will be processed by IDS libraries at no charge. Even Article Preferred members will be reciprocal for both loan and article requests, though the loans would be sent using UPS, Fed Ex, or USPS instead of the Empire Library Delivers courier service.

How can the IDS Project benefit your library and its users?

IDS Project library users benefit from a larger, more diverse collection of materials, faster delivery, higher quality for reproduction and bibliographic accuracy, and easy 24/7 access to articles through electronic delivery to the web. Library staff benefit from working with their peers in a community of libraries committed to the IDS Project's high standards for excellent customer service. The IDS Project develops and shares ILLiad best practices using the Workflow Toolkit. New library staff will benefit from the support of the IDS Peer Advisor Program which provides additional training and support. Staff also benefit because they are able to run a paperless resource-sharing operation. The library benefits from a lower cost per transaction having optimized their workflow.

How is the IDS Project structured?

The IDS Project consists of over 80 libraries within New York State, ranging from community colleges to doctoral-granting institutions and over two dozen libraries outside of New York. All of these libraries are using ILLiad, Odyssey, and IDS Logic and a majority are using the Empire Library Delivery.

The Project works in partnership with the Office of Library and Information Services (OLIS), and the New York Regional Library Councils. OCLC, Atlas Systems , Proquest , and Ebsco also support the IDS Project.

How do I join the IDS Project?

Any library is encouraged to join the IDS Project. There is a $1,600 fee associated with membership; and members must subscribe to OCLC and the ILLiad Resource Sharing Management system.

If you are interested in joining the IDS Project, please contact Mark Sullivan, the Project Executive Director, at director@idsproject.org or 585-245-5172.

Privacy Notice

IDS Logic works with the data from each member library but does not transfer or store any user data. Usernames in the Transaction tables are hashed before sending that data to the IDS Logic Servers.

How does the IDS Project compare to traditional ILL?

IDS Project libraries are committed to a community focus on effective best practices in resource sharing, thereby significantly improving performance standards.

The IDS Project's goal is to improve user service by meeting 48-hour turnaround times for articles and 72-hour turnaround time for books. IDS libraries do not charge any fees for lending materials. Lending to other libraries is just as important as borrowing for our own patrons.

What effect will the IDS Project have on our workflow?

The IDS project will have a positive effect on workflow because the Project has a set of common goals and all libraries use the same sending and receiving methods.

Direct Request profiles and custom holdings are used for books, and all libraries within the Project have a priority custom holdings group set up for Project libraries. With Direct Request profiles in the Automated Request Manager turned on, routine loan requests are automatically sent to the first library without staff intervention.

IDS staff also uses a custom holdings group for articles which are delivered to the web. ILLiad /Odyssey is used to automatically transfer articles to the web if a library is designated as a Trusted Sender.

The Workflow Toolkit has many ideas on improving workflow.

What is the expected turnaround time for IDS Project requests?

The performance standards for turnaround time are defined as follows:

• • The average time from receipt of a request to actual article delivery will be no longer than 48 hours but most articles are delivered within 24 hours.
  • The average time from receipt of a request to actual loan delivery will be no longer than 72 hours and between Empire Library Delivery zones no longer than 96 hours.

What ILL Tools are used by the IDS Project?

The OCLC ILLiad Resource Sharing Management System, IDS Logic , and Article Licensing Information Availability Service.

How does the IDS Project handle borrowing requests?

The IDS Project handles borrowing requests using the standard ILLiad and OCLC processes. We do make certain that the libraries are using custom holdings, Automated Request Manager for loans and the IDS Logic: ALIAS for articles. IDS Logic: Borrowing Availability Service also helps improve the borrowing of loans.

What steps are involved in IDS Project lending?

The IDS Project handles borrowing requests using the standard ILLiad and OCLC processes but we have added IDS Logic and several ILLiad client addons. IDS Logic Lending Availability Service and Article Gateway automate many of the steps required for processing lending requests. For more information, please see IDS Tools