SIFT: A student document delivery service from HSL

It began as a pilot on Aug 1, 2009 and has since shown remarkable progress as a document delivery service valued and well received by UC Denver students on the AMC. Over 200 AMC health science students registered for document delivery service in Fall 2009 signing up for SIFT. According to sources, students eagerly and easily created new ILLiad accounts and generated new batches of requests for articles and books needed for their research, clinical rotations, and their studies. The HSL document delivery team in Access Services found themselves quite busy with all the student requests in Fall 2009; and they say they are ready for more! The additional good news is that SIFT continues into 2010 for the spring term.             

SIFT is a document delivery service for students at the AMC of UC Denver. SIFT stands for Students for ILLiad Freedom Trial and is a pilot service being offered by the Health Sciences Library (HSL), the Academic Support Advisory Committee (ASAC), and the Access Services division of HSL. Need an article the library does not have? Can’t come on campus to copy that 1986 article? Tired of the endless linking to myriad journal homepages? Joining SIFT means registering with ILLiad. ILLiad gives freedom and new options to UC Denver Health Sciences students to request articles 24/7 from the HSL collections and beyond. It is simple to get started and sign up now. This is a service for students, about students, and funded by the students. The library welcomes and encourages all eligible students to try out the service during the spring ’10 semester. Distance education students are especially encouraged to consider the advantages of joining SIFT.                  

SIFT was originally slated to end in December at the conclusion of the fall 2009 semester, but that is the past. Through continued interest and with kind support in partnership with ASAC, the SIFT pilot lives on into 2010. Students are encouraged to try it out and may register at any time. SIFT not only provides interlibrary loan for materials not held in the HSL collections, but also document delivery of materials from within the library’s collections (articles/book chapters) straight to the desktops of students who may not have the time to come to the library and/or hunt down the full text of all their article citations.         

Questions about SIFT and its availability after spring 2010 can be directed to Douglas Stehle, Head of Access Services at the Health Sciences Library. If you need help registering on ILLiad or want more details about SIFT for students in 2010, please call the document delivery unit of HSL Access Services @ 303-724-2111 during their normal business hours M-F.       

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