Content Sharing Policies

Listserv Policy

The Association of Vision Science Librarians (AVSL) listserv was established in order to facilitate the timely exchange of information among persons interested in vision science and related fields, especially as they apply to libraries/information centers. Exchange of information includes, but is not limited to, answering questions related to the literature of these fields, reference and bibliographic assistance, requesting copies of articles, and/or the distribution of books, journals and non-book material, among members of the AVSL.

The AVSL listserv is closed; to have an email address added, please join AVSL.

Interlibrary Loan Policy and Use of the AVSL Union List

The Association of Vision Science Librarians wholeheartedly supports the concept of the widest possible access to vision-related information.  In practice, however, it is impossible for us to respond to requests from individuals. Only requests from Union List member libraries and institutions will be honored.

Eligibility to participate in this resource-sharing service is limited to AVSL member libraries and institutions. To participate, please contact Heather Edmonds (edmondsh[at]neco.edu).

Please note: Some institutions may require use of standard ILL policy (e.g., email, DOCLINE, OCLC, etc.)  DOCLINE users should consider using the AVSL DOCLINE group.

MEMBERS: Please contact Heather Edmonds (edmondsh[at]neco.edu) for access to the Union List.

BORROWING LIBRARIES/INSTITUTIONS

• Send a request for a specific item to a specific library.
• DO NOT SEND YOUR REQUEST TO THE AVSL LISTSERV, EXCEPT IN URGENT INSTANCES.
• When making a request for a journal article, consult the latest edition of the Union List of Vision Related Serials to verify which libraries hold the journal title being requested. Select only the libraries that hold the title.
• For U.S. libraries, please first send requests to those libraries within your own time zone. If it is after business hours for the libraries in your time zone, it is acceptable to contact libraries in other time zones.
• Request ILLs only for vision-related materials. This includes articles from journals in the Union List of Vision-Related Serials and vision-related articles in non-vision journals. When requesting vision related articles in non-vision journals, it is acceptable to email the entire listserv; however, most member libraries do not have large general medical or scientific collections.
• Type ILL/AVSL as the first word in the email subject line, as well as the names or abbreviations of both the borrowing and lending libraries. This will help the recipient to determine the request is directed to her/his library and not the entire AVSL membership (e.g., ILL/AVSL-UCB to NIH).
• Include PMID, if available.
• Use the listserv to request items for your institutional clients/patrons only.