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05
Posted by Margot M on June 5th, 2025
Posted in: NLM Resources
Tags: DOCLINE, hospital librarians, hospital library advisory group
In June 2024, Margot Malachowski (NNLM Region 7) and Emily Hamstra (NNLM Region 5) began work on cleaning up the FREESHARE group due to user complaints about members that borrow but do not lend. This is especially bothersome for the users because the documents are being shared without cost.
We deleted “Closed” libraries from the FREESHARE group, bringing the active membership down from 1198 to 1053. Next step was to devise a FREESHARE Renewal form to be sent to active members.
DOCLINE Library Groups consist of DOCLINE libraries who follow a shared set of lending rules when lending to each other. More information about Library Groups is available in the DOCLINE User Manual (pdf).
Members of the Library Group FREESHARE lend to other FREESHARE libraries at no-cost ($0.00 base fee). To participate in FREESHARE, you must agree to the following:
In August 2024, Region 7 hosted a webinar on Library Groups and FREESHARE. Erin Latta (DOCLINE) and Gillian Takamaru (DOCLINE) attended the webinar as subject matter experts. They handled questions that came into the chat. There were 228 registrants and 132 attendees. The webinar set out the expectations for participating in FREESHARE: libraries would loan at no-cost, and libraries would lend and borrow in equal measure.
To prepare for the FREESHARE Renewal Form, we changed the NNLM statement on the website to better reflect our role. NNLM cannot enforce licensing agreements, as suggested by the previous statement. Jacqueline Leskovec (NNLM Region 6) worked on a Qualtrics form to ask FREESHARE members if they want to renew membership.
In January 2025, the FREESHARE Renewal Form was distributed to current membership, then at 1061. Each LIBID required an individual form. Emails were sent out batches in alphabetical order.
During this time, we received two phone calls and several emails from librarians who were concerned that it was a scam. NLM and NNLM received emails with questions about the contact email address and/or LIBID. Several members had persistent problems with submitting the form, so we did it on their behalf instead of trying to troubleshoot. We received several inquiries from DOCLINE users about joining FREESHARE and asked them to wait until we finished the renewal process.
We removed libraries that were closed but still listed in FREESHARE. Note: the algorithm would skip these libraries, so this cleanup was basically cosmetic. We removed libraries listed as NLM Only since they are not lenders. We removed libraries with bad contact email addresses (double bounces) AND had receipted lending requests zero times between October-December 2024 AND borrowed zero times during that time. These libraries are still in DOCLINE. They were removed from FREESHARE.
As of February 21, 2025, there were 1019 libraries in FREESHARE.
During the initial FREESHARE Renewal Form distribution, we learned that many users were concerned that the renewal form was a scam. They didn’t want to click on the link. In the follow-up email to the libraries that had not submitted a form, we gave them the name of Regional Coordinators. If the user was worried about scams, they would be able to reach out to the Coordinator associated with their Region. The Coordinators could reassure them about the form’s legitimacy and offer to fill out the form on their behalf if they were still nervous about it.
We highlighted the library’s LIBID to facilitate using the FREESHARE Renewal Form.
That follow-up email prompted a flurry of responses. In total, a whopping 897 libraries submitted the renewal/cancellation form. At this point, we began to add libraries that were interested in joining FREESHARE.
Membership numbers in FREESHARE are fluid. As of April 30, 2025, there were 938 members. The reduction from 1198 in June 2024 is due to:
*NLM Only indicates that the library borrows from the National Library of Medicine only, and does not lend to any library.
During the clean up project, we received some requests to join FREESHARE from libraries without a previous membership. Some non-members filled out the renewal form in an effort to join FREESHARE.
If your library is interested in joining FREESHARE, please go to our web page . Each Regional Coordinator can add a library to FREESHARE through the individual library’s account after the library affirms that they will provide no-cost lending to other members and that they have the capacity to lend and borrow in equal measure.
Questions? Please contact Margot Malachowski at the email below.
ABOUT Margot M