[PSR-News] Caveats for adding DOCLINE Library Groups to your Routing Tables

[Julie Kwan]

TO:  DOCLINE Libraries

We'd like to clarify some misconceptions about library groups in DOCLINE 
routing tables.

First, put a library group in a cell all by itself.
     Due to the random selection of libraries during routing, NLM 
recommends placing a Library Group in a cell by itself. When DOCLINE 
encounters a library group in a routing table cell, it randomly selects up 
to 20 libraries from that group that own the journal volume and that will 
supply the article according to the delivery methods selected by the 
requesting library. If you have 19 individual libraries in a cell and add 
FreeShare to that cell, you may only get 1 FreeShare library added to the 
mix of libraries. This will not use the power of FreeShare.

Second, do not place large library groups in lower cells
     We recommend that you place your "borrowing buddies" into the lowest 
cells -- i.e., those that you know provide you with low-cost, reliable 
service. It is OK to add a library group to cell 1 if that library group is 
small and you would have all of its members in cell 1 anyway. Larger 
library groups should be placed in higher cells, and the larger the library 
group, the higher the cell. When DOCLINE routes to a library group in a 
higher cell, it will not route to a member of that group to which it has 
already sent a request through a lower cell. So you don't need to worry 
about that.

Thanks very much for your cooperation! We plan to publish an article about 
DOCLINE routing in Latitudes in the near future.

Julie & Marco

Julie Kwan
Library Network Coordinator, NN/LM PSR
UCLA Biomedical Library
310-825-5342, 800-338-7657 (in AZ, CA, HI, NV, Pacific Basin)