The best practice when setting up ILL accounts in Aleph is to set up individual accounts (patron status “32.ILL”) for individual ILL borrowers. Having all ILL loans go out under one individual account is not a good practice for several reasons. For example, it is not technically possible in Aleph for a single account to have unlimited loans. There are several advantages to individual accounts:

• ILL borrowers (the libraries making the request, not their patrons) would receive all patron notices and billing for un-returned items
• Borrowing Libraries would have a “bill” or lost materials notices to hand their patrons
• The notices can be targeted to a specific individuals at the borrowing organizations, for better communication
• Fewer ILL loans to the same account means one is less likely to hit a ‘limit’
• Several CUNY libraries may lend to the SAME borrower, but only one account is maintained. The work is thus distributed.

You can get more information, including a sample list of such accounts already set up in Aleph, on the OLS Support Site.