WiLS E-Doc Delivery
E-Doc is WiLS' Electronc Document Delivery option. It is direct to patron
delivery from us, the lender; or we can just deliver to your ILL office
if you want to look it over first, whichever works best for you. We scan
the article, mount it on the web, and email either the ILL department
or the patron or both with the URL. All that you need is an Internet
connection, a fast PC, a printer, and freely available software. What
we provide is quick delivery of your photocopied materials. How quick?
We can often deliver the same day as we receive your request or the
next day, subject to availability of the materials ordered. All of this
at no extra charge beyond the usual WiLS request fee. If you want to insure delivery within 24 hours, use the Request Express service for an additional charge.
Signup
The form for E-Doc is in pdf format. Click here to
download the 6k PDF signup form for printing.
Adobe offers versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader for many operating system versions.
To download the appropriate version and view installation instructions, click 
System Requirements
The following is required in order to receive documents electronically from WILS.
Hardware:
- A Pentium is preferable, but a high-end 486 will do.
- Windows 95 or 98 is preferred, but Windows 3.X will also work.
- At least 16 megabytes of main memory is preferred.
- You should have 5-10 megabytes of disk space available for viewers
and work files.
- Access to a laser printer.
- An Internet connection or telephone line. If you don't have an Internet account, you will only be able to receive FAXes.
For FAX delivery, you'll need:
- If you wish to receive FAXes on your computer, you'll need fax software and a fax-capable modem. We can make recommendations. Often, fax software will come with a modem you purchase.
- A Web browser. The latest version of Netscape or Internet Explorer
is recommended.
- An e-mail program that can provide "hot link" capability
for launching your Web browser.
- A TIFF viewer or Adobe Acrobat or both. (Note: we can take care of this requirement during installation.)
FAQs—General Questions
Q: What is WiLS E-Doc?
A: WiLS E-Doc is a service available to any WiLS member who uses ILL. It is direct electronic delivery of photocopies to your ILL department or even directly to your patrons.
Q: How are materials delivered electronically?
A: We at WiLS believe that our members should be able to choose how they receive documents, so we offer a number of electronic delivery options. You can choose delivery via FAX, Ariel, or the Internet. If you choose Internet delivery, you can receive documents via TIFF format or PDF format.
Q: How do we decide which delivery option is right for us?
A: We have a worksheet to help you out. (Click here to see it.)
Q: How does WiLS E-Doc delivery work?
A: The ILL department or patron receives an e-mail notifying them that a document is available. The e-mail contains information about the original request, including IL number and citation. There is also a "hot link" to the document itself, which is stored on a server at WiLS. The recipient of the e-mail can click on the hot link and retrieve the document. For most e-mail programs, this works automatically, by launching a Web viewer. Once the document is obtained, the Web viewer automatically launches a TIFF or PDF viewer. At that point, the document can be viewed or printed.
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Ariel
Q: Under what circumstances is Ariel a good choice?
A: The best reason to choose Ariel is if you plan to supply documents
electronically. Note that Ariel essentially requires a Windows 95/98 PC
virtually fulltime in order to operate.
Q: What is the advantage of using the Ariel Print-Only product?
A: We don't believe that Ariel's print-only product is a good choice. However,
some people view Ariel as the standard method for transmitting ILL electronic
documents via the Internet.
Ariel is not recommended as a receive-only option because documents can
only be received when Ariel is running, and Ariel requires virtual full-time
use of a Windows 95/98 PC. On the other hand, it is advantageous to have
electronic documents delivered directly to a single PC, if you do not plan
to deliver directly to patrons. In other words, Ariel offers greater automation
of the delivery process than the WiLS E-Doc service.
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TIFF vs. PDF
Q: We don't understand what TIFF or PDF formats are. What's the difference?
Why choose one or the other?
A: TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) and PDF (Portable Document Format) are
simply two different ways to represent documents. Quality of reproduction
is not an issue with either one, i.e., choosing one or the other will not
make a difference in the quality of the document images you receive
We won't go into the technical differences between the two formats. Instead,
the differences you should consider are the hardware and software requirements
for each. Generally, PDFs require somewhat more powerful computers (faster
chip, more main memory, more disk space) to effectively view them. If you
don't have Pentium-class computers with generous disk space available you
may want to choose TIFFs instead. If you want to do direct patron delivery,
keep in mind that not all of your patrons may have the latest and greatest
in computing resources.
Q: Why choose PDFs at all if they have the disadvantage of requiring
more computing resources?
A: PDFs are very popular in spite of their drawbacks. For one thing, a
single vendor, Adobe, distributes PDF readers (called Acrobat readers)
for the major computing platforms (Windows, Macintoshes, UNIX). TIFF readers
for Macintoshes are hard to come by , and there is no standard feature
set for TIFF readers.
Q: What do you recommend in terms of document delivery to patrons?
A: You need to be the final judge. However, one possibility is to offer both PDF
and TIFF options to your patrons. The advantage of taking this approach
is that they may have one or the other viewer and it allows them to determine
which format is best. The disadvantage is that you end up supporting two
different formats, potentially leading to twice as many problems!
If you don't offer direct patron delivery, pick the option that is best
for your ILL department. Remember, both TIFF and PDF are high-quality methods
of representing documents, so document quality is not a factor in the decision.
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How can we get started?
Q: Okay, we are interested in using WiLS E-Doc.
What do we do now?
A: Use the worksheet here to determine
what you need. For the indefinite future, we make the following offer: once
you have the equipment and software needed to do E-Doc deli very, we will
come to your site, set up the required software, and train any ILL personnel
you select to operate it. So, once you're ready, give Tom Zillner a call
(608-262-6067) or drop him an e-mail (tzillner at wils.wisc.edu)
so that we can set up a date for installation and training.
Q: How long does installation and training take?
A: Barring any problems, we expect installation will require a maximum of
a half hour. Training will require an hour to an hour and a half depending
on the level of computer and Internet experience of the staff being trained.
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How do we indicate where E-Docs should be sent
and their preferred format?
Q: We would like to receive all of my photocopies by E-Doc.
Can we do so?
A: Yes. Use the signup sheet here (6k
PDF). You should note that documents over 50 pages and other materials that
in our opinion should not be sent via E-Doc will still be sent to yo u by
mail or courier. This will only occur in the case of items we think will
be unreadable or hard to read if scanned.
Q: How do we indicate where the e-mail notification announcing availability
of materials is to be sent?
A: You can indicate via the signup sheet (located here)
that you wish all E-Doc notifications to be sent to a single address, called
the default recipient. This would normally be the case if the ILL department
will be dealing with all incoming materials. If you want to do direct patron
delivery, you may still wish to designate a default recipient. In this case,
when a patron is sent an e-mail notification of the availability of an E-Doc
document a copy of the notification is also sent to the default recipient.
This can be particularly helpful in tracking when requests have been filled,
in order to better assist patrons in obtaining delivery of their E-Doc document,
and to troubleshoot problems.
Q: We would like to have items delivered directly to patrons. How can
we do that?
A: To have items delivered directly to patrons, use mailto: in requests sent
via OCLC or our Web forms. For complete instructions, click here.
Q: How do we specify the format (PDF, TIFF or both) for E-Docs?
A: You can use the signup sheet located here (6k
PDF) to indicate the default E-Doc format(s). If you don't specify one or
more formats to us, and we receive requests from you for E-Doc delivery,
we will create documents in both PDF and TIFF formats for all of your E-Doc
deliveries.
You may also want to specify different formats for different E-Doc deliveries.
For example, if some of your patrons will receive their documents as PDFs,
but others will receive them as TIFFs, you might want to specify the appropriate
format in your ILL request. There is a special way you must do this in order
for the request to be processed properly. Instructions are located here.
How do we specify where we want an E-Doc sent?
When an E-Doc is available, it is mounted on our Web site, and an e-mail
notification is sent to one or more Internet e-mail addresses.
You can indicate via the signup sheet located here that you wish all E-Doc
notifications to be sent to a single address, called the default recipient.
This would normally be the case if the ILL department will be dealing with
all incoming materials. If you want to do direct patron delivery, you may
still wish to designate a default recipient. In this case, when a patron
is sent an e-mail notification of the availability of an E-Doc document a
copy of the notification is also sent to the default recipient. This can
be particularly helpful in tracking when requests have been filled, in order
to better assist patrons in obtaining delivery of their E-Doc document, and
to troubleshoot problems.
How do we have E-Docs delivered to patrons?
If you wish to have a notification sent to a specific patron when an E-Doc
is available, you must indicate this in the body of a request, whether it
is sent via OCLC or through our Web request service. This is done by using
mailto: in the BORROWING NOTES field. The mailto: has the following format:
mailto:recip@anywhere.edu (single recipient)Please note that the format must be adhered to exactly, or the request will not be properly processed. This is because all E-Doc handling is by computer program, and computer programs are notoriously literal and stupid about dealing with variations in format.
mailto:recip1@anywhere.edu,recip2@anywhere.edu (multiple recipients)
Important rules for mailto:
- There must be no spaces anywhere within the mailto: information.
- At the end of the mailto: information, there must be at least one space separating the mailto: from any other text in the field.
- Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated by a single comma.
It is possible to specify E-Doc format within a request. If you choose to do so, your mailto: should look like this:
mailto:recip@anywhere.edu:fmt (single recipient)
mailto:recip1@anywhere.edu:fmt,recip2@anywhere.edu:fmt (multiple recipients)
where :fmt is any of
:tif indicating TIFF format
:pdf indicating PDF format
:tifpdf indicating both TIFF and PDF format
For example, mailto:tzillner@wils.wisc.edu:pdf
would cause the creation of an E-Doc in PDF format, with a notification of its availability sent to me.
Important Note: If you have signed up to have all photocopies delivered via E-Doc, and you wish to have a particular E-Doc delivered in the format you specified when you signed up, you do not need to specify format within the request.
Q: How do we get more information?
For further information, contact Tom Zillner by e-mail (tzillner at wils.wisc.edu) or by phone (608/262-0047).
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Sign Up
The form for E-Doc is in pdf format.
Click here to download the 6k PDF signup form for printing.
Adobe offers versions of Adobe Acrobat Reader for many operating system versions.
To download the appropriate version and view installation instructions, click