MEDLINEplus is Better Than Ever

New Docline

OLDMEDLINE Update

E-CIP

Permanent Access to NLM Files

NIH Director's Awards

NLM New Associate Fellows

Virtual Tour

MLA/PLA Conference

Szczur Joins SIS

Publicity Review and Update

Portrait Goes to Blair House

Names in the News

NLM In Print

Interlibrary loan staff in all 50 states, Canada, and in many foreign countries celebrated the arrival of the worldwide web-based DOCLINE on July 17, 2000. DOCLINE users have long anticipated the implementation of this product that incorporates all of the old functions of DOCLINE with many new features that take advantage of web technology.

Unless they were: a) new to the network; b) in a far off country; or c) had their computers turned off, interlibrary loan staff in NN/LM libraries were well prepared for this transition. New DOCLINE has been in the works for almost two years, and many of its features are the direct result of input from NN/LM librarians and other network users.

As many readers of NLM NEWSLINE know, DOCLINE is NLM's automated interlibrary loan request routing and referral system. Since its inception in 1985, DOCLINE has been a free service to participants who meet eligibility guidelines. DOCLINE is designed to provide fast document delivery to libraries in the National Network of Libraries of Medicine by linking their journal holdings and routing requests to members whose holdings records indicate they own the material sought. From DOCLINE, users can prepare requests, edit them, check the holdings of potential lenders, receive printed copies of requests from other libraries, fill requests for copies, loan original material, and check the status of requests at any time during the process.

From the DOCLINE main menu page, users can easily switch between the four main functional parts of the system and the online HELP:

• DOCUSER: Directory of Users
  The DOCUSER file contains: institution address, contact names, interlibrary loan information, routing tables and other ILL and Consumer Health services information for more than 3200 active DOCLINE libraries
• SERHOLD: National Biomedical
  Serials Holdings Database SERHOLD contains over 1.4 million journal holdings records from over 3,000 libraries. SERHOLD participants can update their holdings online, and order a variety of union list reports.
• REQUESTS
  The REQUESTS module includes the functions of: Borrow, Lend Receipt, (DOCLINE Statistical) Reports and Status/Cancel.
• Loansome Doc
  From DOCLINE, libraries that are Loansome Doc providers can view and manage their patron information.
• HELP
  DOCLINE Help includes an Online Manual, links to Frequently Asked Questions, and a means to "Contact NLM" directly by sending an email to our Customer Services at: newdocline@nlm.nih.gov.

Transition to New DOCLINE

As is often the case with change, the move from old to new DOCLINE was met with some trepidation among both NLM staff and NN/LM users. DOCLINE was a long running success story, and like a good TV drama that has commanded a prime-time spot for many years, many wondered, why change it? Television executives say it's because the cast ages, the story lines become dull or outdated, and the setting is limited. This analogy can also be applied to old DOCLINE: The computer programmers who knew the old system were largely retired and gone, and enhancements to the existing system were limited by mainframe architecture and outdated programs.

By the mid 1990s, it was evident that the time had come to move forward with DOCLINE. When NLM was named as a federal reinvention lab in 1995, the Library began to redesign its legacy computer systems to take advantage of new directions in software, hardware, and communications that would enhance services for NLM customers.

The new system architecture uses Cold Fusion on Unix servers connected with an Oracle database that contains DOCLINE and Loansome Doc transactions, as well as data for DOCUSER and SERHOLD.

Beyond the basic goal of complying with NLM's system reinvention plan, the DOCLINE Team adopted the following general goals for the new system:

1. Design a web-based product that uses all of the best features of the legacy system. Those include:
   -Automatic routing
   -Central collection of journal holdings data
   -Provision of detailed reports for billing and collection development
2. Don't Reinvent the Wheel!
   -Use existing NLM systems: PubMed (MEDLINE citations), LOCATORplus (NLM's online catalog)
   -Incorporate standards, such as the ISO/ILL protocol for sharing interlibrary loan transactions with external systems
3. Integrate all System Functions
   -From one menu: DOCUSER, SERHOLD, DOCLINE Borrow, Lend, Status/Cancel and Loansome Doc Patron Administration
4. Empower the User
   -Take NLM out of the loop where it does not need to be
   -Give individual libraries the ability to:
   

   a. Update their own DOCUSER records

   b. Maintain their own routing tables

   c. Perform online maintenance to holdings records in SERHOLD

   d. Run DOCUSER, DOCLINE and SERHOLD reports

5. Lower Costs
   -Eliminate telnet and other VAN access to DOCLINE
   -Reduce mailing costs by making reports and statistics available from the web
6. Facilitate Better Communication between Libraries and NLM
   -Initiate a new listserv, DOCLINE-L for system announcements
   -Improved DOCLINE Customer Services.
   
   Contact NLM:
   
   By E-mail: custserv@nlm.nih.gov
   By Phone: Within the U.S.: (888) 346-3656; press 2
   From outside the U.S: (301) 594-5983; press 2

If customer inquiry is any indication of the success of new DOCLINE, the system is a big winner. The DOCLINE customer support team answered over 3,000 e- mails and phone calls in the first ten weeks of the new system. Many users have contacted us with specific questions about how something works, and many others have written with suggestions for enhancements or tweaking an existing function.

Future Releases

The web-based DOCLINE is an evolving system. On October 30th, 2000 DOCLINE version 1.1 became available. This enhanced release includes significant changes to the HELP, a new format for viewing "Retired Unfilled" messages, NLM "Overdue Notices" for original materials loaned, and several new SERHOLD reports.

Due to unanticipated problems with compiling data, the July-September quarterly reports were delayed, and are now expected to be available to all users by early December.

The ISO/ILL protocol is still in testing at NLM with several vendors. The protocol will allow users of external systems to send their requests through to DOCLINE. When testing is complete, the protocol will be released immediately.

NLM has compiled a list of DOCLINE enhancements that include many suggestions from users, staff from the Regional Medical Libraries, and the NLM DOCLINE Team. DOCLINE users can expect to see many of these changes incorporated in future releases in the coming year.

Thanks to Martha Fishel, Deputy Chief, Public Services Division, for contributing this article.

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