By Amy Miller (submitted by Meg Massey)

PALCI/ E-ZBorrow has become a very popular part of our Interlibrary Loan Services here at Penn State, but many patrons and staff have questions about the service.  As Penn State’s     E-ZBorrow Specialist, I wanted to address some of the most common questions we receive about the service.

1. Who can use E-ZBorrow ?

• All current faculty, staff, graduate student, undergraduate student, post-doctoral student, or a retired faculty or staff, including world and distance patrons (as long as they are in the US) with a valid Penn State Access ID card.
• The patron must have a current library account in good standing.

2. Why is it different than ILL?

• E-ZBorrow is a consortium of academic libraries in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and West Virginia that loan materials to each other.
• It is a smaller more local pool of lenders than ILL (which accesses libraries all over the world).
• E-ZBorrow is directly connected to our circulation system. ILLIAD is an entirely separate system.

3. Why do books that are requested through ILL come through E-ZBorrow ?

 Materials often arrive faster and it is less expensive for the libraries to borrow books from an E-ZBorrow library than to go to a library across the country or even internationally with ILL.

• E-ZBorrow provides current availability for items in the consortium so we know how many copies might be available when the request is made.
• Because of the speed and convenience, ILL staff search the E-ZBorrow system for all ILL requests before going to other libraries.

4. Why do E-ZBorrow items appear on My Library Account and not in ILLIAD?

• E-ZBorrow is connected to the library circulation system. When items come in for our patrons, a PSU barcode is assigned to the item and they are checked out just like Penn State books.

5. How long can patrons keep E-ZBorrow items?

• E-ZBorrow items have a 12 week loan period from the day that the patron checks it out.

6. Why can’t E-ZBorrow items be renewed?

• E-ZBorrow items are not part of the Penn State Collection. The consortium has agreed on a 12 week loan.

7. What if I need more than 12 weeks with an E-ZBorrow item?

• E-ZBorrow items follow the same overdue and fine policies as Penn State books.
• We can’t renew them, but there is a 30 day grace period on the materials.
• If an E-ZBorrow item is marked to lost, the fees are forgiven once it is returned.
• If the patron needs the material for much longer, we recommend making another ILL or E-ZBorrow request for the material.

8. Will my E-ZBorrow item be recalled?

• No, Penn State Patrons cannot recall E-ZBorrow items from you.
• However, if the lending library needs it for Course Reserves, ILL staff will recall it.

By: Ally Laird

The Libraries Open Publishing Program has published its very first Open Access monograph, tilted “Back Into the Future of Immigration: Personal Stories by the Penn State Law Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic”. The monograph is edited by the founder and director of the Penn State Law’s Center for Immigrant’s Rights Clinic, Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, Esq. The publication showcases the personal stories from 11 past and current students of the clinic, many of whom are now practicing immigration law at large firms, as solo practitioners, for non-profit organizations, and in the federal government.

From Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia’s prologue, she notes, “I hope these essays showcase some of the projects and cases students have worked on during their time at the Clinic and the impact they have made to individuals, institutions, and the community. Importantly, these essays also reveal how the authors’ personal experiences have shaped how they entered law school and how they define themselves as lawyers. I hope readers can taste the sweat, blood, and heart of gold it takes to work in the immigration space — especially in a climate of ever changing policy and heightened uncertainty about the future. Beyond the essays, are photographs by each author to place a face on a story as well as selected excerpts of clinic projects and cases over the last decade.” The publication also includes a closing from Hari M. Osofsky, Dean, Penn State Law and School of International Affairs.

Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia is the Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar and Clinical Professor of Law at Penn State Law. She is an expert on immigration law, with research focusing on prosecutorial discretion’s role in immigration law, and the intersections of race, national security, and immigration. She teaches doctrinal courses on immigration and asylum, and refugee law. She is also the founder/director of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, where she supervises students.

The Libraries Open Publishing Program, a part of the new Digital Scholarship and Data Services department, currently publishes eight Open Access journals, five bibliographies, a topical web portal publication, and now one Open Access monograph. For more information on the Open Publishing Program, please visit https://openpublishing.psu.edu, or contact Ally Laird at alaird@psu.edu.