Amigos Reciprocal Borrowing Agreements

Amigos sponsors two reciprocal borrowing agreements. The Amigos Resource Sharing Agreement and the Western Resource Sharing Agreement enable no-charge resource sharing among participants who sign the agreements.

Participation in the Amigos Resource Sharing Agreement is open to all Amigos members. Participation in the Western Resource Sharing Agreement is limited to current Amigos members and a group of libraries that previously participated in a joint Amigos/Bibliographical Center for Research (BCR) reciprocal borrowing agreement as members of the now-defunct BCR.

Participating libraries agree to loan and make copies (up to 50 pages) at no charge to other Agreement signers. Participants in the reciprocal borrowing programs not only benefit financially, but also save time in conducting inter-library loan processes. Amigos members who would like to join either or both groups may initiate the process by contacting Bea Ramirez @ 800-843-8482, ext. 2830 or e-mail: ramirez@amigos.org.

  • Amigos Resource Sharing Agreement List of Signers (.pdf format) | List of Signers (.xlsx format)
    Amigos members are eligible to participate in the Amigos Resource Sharing Agreement. Currently, more than 400 Amigos members participate.

    The Amigos Resource Sharing Agreement states that signers of the agreement will provide loans and copies (up to 50 pages) without charging the requesting participant any type of handling, postage or other fees. The agreement is reciprocal in that all signers can expect uniform "no charge" ILL service from other signers within the limits described in the agreement.

    Although libraries are encouraged to lend any type of materials normally circulated to their local users, the agreement does not require a library to loan all items or formats, only to provide the loans at no charge to other signers.

    It is easy to determine if a library participates. All signers are added to the "AMGS" ILL group in OCLC. A complete list of signers can be found by searching AMGS in the Group Search in the OCLC Policies Directory. Borrowers can view holdings of AMGS signers when submitting ILL requests in OCLC through the Group Holdings display and can identify their own participation in the agreement by listing AMGS or Amigos Resource Sharing Agreement Signer in the Affiliations field of their ILL Constant Data Record.

    The complete text of the agreement can be found here: http://www.amigos.org/node/266.

    If you are an Amigos member and would like to sign the agreement, go here: https://www.amigos.org/sites/default/files/amigos_resource_sharing_agreement_form.pdf.

  • Western Resource Sharing Agreement
    The Western Resource Sharing agreement maintains the reciprocal borrowing relationships established between Amigos members and the libraries that participated in the former Bibliographical Center for Research (BCR). Currently, more than 525 libraries participate in the Western agreement.

    As a lender, Amigos member libraries follow the stipulations of the Amigos Resource Sharing Agreement; former BCR members follow the Western Resource Sharing Agreement. There are two differences between the Western Resource Sharing Agreement and the Amigos Resource Sharing Agreement. The Western Resource Sharing Agreement states that lenders will provide up to 30 free photocopy pages while the Amigos Resource Sharing Agreement stipulates up to 50 free pages of photocopy.

    Also, the Western Resource Sharing Agreement leaves the issue of charging for FAX or other electronic transmission of photocopies at the discretion of the lending library while the Amigos Resource Sharing Agreement provides that the lending library will assume these charges.

    AMBC is the OCLC group symbol for the Western Resource Sharing Agreement. To verify if a library participates search AMBC in the Group Search in the OCLC Policies Directory. Borrowers can view holdings of AMBC signers when submitting ILL requests in OCLC through the Group Holdings display and can identify their own participation in the agreement by listing AMBC or Amigos Western Resource Sharing Agreement Signer in the Affiliations field of their ILL Constant Data Record.

    The complete text of the Western Sharing Agreement can be found here: http://www.amigos.org/sites/default/files/western_resource_sharing_agreement_form.pdf

    Enrollment is open to Amigos members also participating in the Amigos Resource Sharing Agreement.

For more information contact Bea Ramirez (phone: 800-843-8482, ext. 2830 or e-mail: ramirez@amigos.org).