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   Lee Hadden               Bernard Strong         Marcia Talley
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Nita Dean +1-614-761-5002
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UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT WILMINGTON
LOGS 70 MILLIONTH OCLC INTERLIBRARY LOAN REQUEST

UBLIN, Ohio, Nov. 15, 1996*The University of North Carolina at Wilmington
entered the 70 millionth OCLC interlibrary loan request for the book, A
Journey through the Chinese Empire, by Evariste R. Huc, published in 1857.
     The request was entered Oct. 22, just 35 days after the 69 millionth
OCLC interlibrary loan request was made by the S. Dale High Library at
Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania.
     Mary Corcoran, library technical assistant at the William Madison
Randall Library, University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW), said she
had missed a day of work with a sprained thumb.  The lost day meant a slight
backlog of interlibrary loan requests to produce, and the wrapped thumb made
it difficult to enter requests at her keyboard.
     *The last time it was close, I was trying to hit the 69 millionth
record, but this time I was pretty busy just trying to get my work done,*
said Ms. Corcoran.  *I was really shocked when I made the 70 millionth
request because I really wasn*t trying to hit it.  I didn*t even notice the
number until a co-worker told me.*
     There is a sign displayed in the library congratulating Ms. Corcoran
for entering the 70 millionth OCLC request.  She said some have
misunderstood the sign.  *Some are congratulating me for entering my 70
millionth ILL request,* she said, noting that would be a daunting task even
with a healthy thumb.
     The interlibrary loan department at the Randall Library comprises two
full-time staff and two student assistants.  Interlibrary loan at UNCW
continues to increase, with the department handling some 1,200 requests in
October.
     *I*ve been in ILL for 10 years,* said Ms. Corcoran.  *I started as a
cataloger, and I think that has helped me when searching for records in
interlibrary loan.  I like working in ILL, particularly the interaction I
have with the public.*
     The William Madison Randall Library, named for the president emeritus
of Wilmington College, was recently enlarged and completely renovated.  The
library now contains more than 400,000 hardbound volumes and subscribes to
some 5,000 serial titles.  The library houses the Curriculum Materials
Center, a specialized facility designed to support the teacher education
program of the Watson School of Education and the Honors Program office.
     Maintaining a schedule of more than 98 hours per week during regular
academic sessions, the library has established as its major goal the
provision of an excellent program of services designed to facilitate and
encourage maximum use of print and electronic information resources.
     The library is a member of SOLINET, an OCLC-affiliated regional
network.
     The OCLC interlibrary loan system was activated in 1979.  In the
1995/96 fiscal year, some 5,500 libraries arranged more than 7.9 million
loans through the system.
     OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit computer library
service and research organization whose computer network and services link
more than 23,000 libraries in 63 countries and territories.  For more
information, visit the OCLC Web site
[http://www.oclc.org/].                                (RJM)
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