Particpant Record in NHAIS ILL System

When viewing contact info stored in the NHAIS ILL System, the information you see is drawn from the Participant Record. You can look at (but not edit) your library's Participant Record at Staff Dashboard > ILL Admin > Participant Record.

Note that many fields are not used in this system and the formatting on some entries, such as van addresses, may appear odd. One entry that is a source of confusion is Days Requests are Processed. All days are checked for all locations. Days Requests are Processed figures in the system's calculations of due dates, days to respond, and deadline dates.

Days to Respond is set to 4 for all locations. This offers sufficient time for each library a request stops at to respond as long as libraries comply with the NHAIS ILL Agreement, which requires that participating libraries check for incoming requests every day the library is open and respond within 24 hours. If you're closed on weekends, a request that becomes Pending at your location anytime Friday will still be there waiting for your response on Monday (but not Tuesday).

The system default setting for lending policy is that all types of materials will be loaned for 6 weeks (that's the "42" you see in Days to Return). That can be overridden if you've submitted a Lending Policy for your library. Click on the Lending button to see if you have customized this--if there isn't a check mark next to "Use my library's lending policies..." then what's on that page has no effect.

Days to Supply is set to 21 (3 weeks) for all libraries. A request that stays in Shipped status beyond this period will go into Not Received status. It's a generous amount of time that allows for the winter storms, driver illnesses, van breakdowns, holidays, and other things that can delay van delivery.

Each library has its own Preferred Lender List which was created in accordance with guidelines in the New Hampshire Interlibrary Loan Protocol Manual. The Preferred Lender List shows the order in which locations are checked for availability but the presence of a particular location code in the list does not necessarily mean the library associated with it is a current lender in the system. The System Wide list shows all NHAIS location codes in no particular order and serves as a fall-back for the Preferred Lender List.

Near the bottom of the Participant Record are options for system-generated notifications. If you're interested in having these enabled for staff, fill out the Email Notices to Staff form. System-generated notifications for patrons are not an option because patron e-mail addresses are not stored in the NHAIS ILL System.

If you need to change contact information or holiday dates in the Participant Record, contact the NHAIS Help Desk via e-mail or phone 603-271-2141. Schools with a defined holiday calendar may use the School Closed Dates form to submit vacation dates for the entire school year.

[This post edited 12/14/23 to update links.]