CSU Libraries Partner to Implement RapidILL

The libraries of Central Connecticut State University, Eastern Connecticut State University, Southern Connecticut State University, and Western Connecticut State University have partnered to implement RapidILL, a system that significantly enhances their abilities to provide electronic access to articles and book chapters that are not available within their own collections.

As a result, students, faculty, and staff at the four Connecticut State Universities (CSUs) can now expect to have more of their interlibrary loan (ILL) requests for articles fulfilled with a significantly decreased processing time. Furthermore, RapidILL applies automation to reduce manual work and make library operations more efficient. 

RapidILL was originally developed at Colorado State University Libraries in the 1990s, and it works by integrating with existing systems that the CSU libraries use to manage their collections and provide ILL services. The CSU libraries’ collaborative implementation of RapidILL adds them to a worldwide network of over 500 libraries who have agreed to digitally fulfill each others’ article and book chapter ILL requests without charge. The fill-rate for article requests is 95 percent, and the average time between placement of a request and the requestor’s digital receipt of the article is 11.2 hours. 

Because of the benefits of RapidILL, the directors of the CSU libraries endorsed collaborative implementation of RapidILL with funding from the CSCU System Office. As Janice Wilson (Director of Library Services at Eastern Connecticut State University) comments, “we saw implementation of RapidILL as a great opportunity to improve service to our communities by better connecting them with the articles that they need to thrive as learners, scholars, and professionals.”

To learn more about RapidILL, contact a CSU library’s ILL department:

• Central Connecticut State University

• Southern Connecticut State University

• Western Connecticut State University