Overview of NCIP:
NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol
A typical, and manual, borrowing workflow may include 22 or more steps. With NCIP, the number of borrowing steps is reduced by 50 percent to just 11 steps. On the lending side, the traditional manual workflow of 14 steps is reduced to 8 steps when using NCIP, or 42% fewer steps. The detailed workflow comparison with and without NCIP is available on the NISO ISQ website. The specific steps each ILL staff member performs may vary depending on local policies and workflow. However, this workflow reflects a typical borrowing and lending transaction.
Mary E. Jackson – former A-G Product Manager and internationally recognized authority on interlibrary loan, document delivery, portal applications in libraries, and resource sharing issues – wrote a comprehensive article on the details of NCIP.