Request (aka "PIR")

Library staff are reminded that the Request service debuts on January 20, 1999.  Announcements about the opening of the CDL will mention this important collaboratively built service.  Sources of information include the PIR Liaisons on each campus and the Request web site at (http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/pir/) which includes a “Briefing” for public services staff and draft text that can be adapted for local descriptions of the service.

The Request function was designed and built by a cross-campus team and with input from all campuses.  Available from within the Melvyl Catalog for faculty, graduate students, and staff, it lets users make automatic requests — up to ten per day — to borrow books from campus libraries other than their own.  If users are eligible for their local campus document delivery service, they may also use Request to ask for books owned by their own campus library.  (Document delivery service is not available at all campuses.)

The Request function is not yet available in the web interface for other CDL-hosted databases.  Users who have been using the Request function in the telnet interface (telnet://melvyl.ucop.edu) to ask for items from other databases may continue to do so.

The Request button is available in three locations within the Melvyl Catalog: from the display of Melvyl Catalog search results; from the display of Melvyl Catalog Update results; and from the display of a Saved List.