> Perhaps from a usual library perspective, ILL is fancy, but programatically, > it isn't any more complicated than a borrower. Except a lender checks a > book in first and simultaneously creates a record for it.
Most ILL software also offer different options for delivery, automates much of the communications for requests and the like between institutions, using systems similar for p2p for electronic document delivery, ways to set up different shipping and payment methods, allow individuals to track shipping, copyright control and licensing (does institution x in Mexico have the right to loan us x), etc. Most ILL systems are geared towards sharing with non-partner institutions. Usually true partner institutions share the same ILS or use some sort of similar universal borrowing setup. I'd imagine that's what most people started thinking when you said ILL was a requirement but it sounds like you might also just be asking more about universal borrowing configuration. Typical lingo for what it sounds like you want is good support for "on the fly" records for patron and books. In other words, it's really quick and easy to create records, even at the point where you're about to circulate. Universal borrowing setups tend to do this by either grabbing patron info or having dummy patrons that correspond to the institution. Illiad is probably our most heavily used ILL system, but we run more than one for the electronic sharing aspects. Most ILS systems don't have the ILL integrated with them, mostly due to historical reasons. In fact, ILS are increasingly moving away from monolithic models into more modular ones. (After all, typically the catalog interface is a huge part of the ILS, but it sounds like you want to use VuFind). If you know all this I apologize, but I think there's some confusion with how you're using the terms. Or how I'm understanding your use. Jon Gorman