The ANT*ILL: using Perl to automate the ILL lending process

Abstract

Describes the ANT*ILL software system, developed at the University of California, Irvine′s Library, to search incoming OCLC interlibrary loan requests automatically against the local Innovative Interfaces Online Public Access Catalog (III OPAC). There are three steps involved with the ANT*ILL programs: downloading the “pending” file from OCLC via the Internet; searching those downloaded records on the UCI III OPAC to extract the call number and circulation status; and outputing the results. The ANT*ILL programs are written in the Perl programming language and run under the UNIX operating system. Discusses the system′s design, its implementation, and its performance. The ANT*ILL source code is available free of charge.