This profile, referred to as the NCIP Direct Consortial Borrowing: User Agency Manages the Transaction (DCB-2) Profile of the NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol (NCIP), describes the functions, applications, and the operating environment in which a user agency’s policies related to privileges, circulation, renewals, fines, and all other circulation transactions manage the circulation transactions. This allows the user agency to authenticate the user within its own systems and determine if the transaction may take place. No matter which application initiates the transaction it is the user agency that determines whether or not the transaction proceeds and, sets the conditions of the transaction, e.g. due date. The user agency determines what, if any, User data is shared with its NCIP partner.

Through Direct Consortial Borrowing (DCB), users of one agency can request and borrow items from another agency within a consortium. The NCIP facilitates the transfer of user and item data between disparate circulation applications, thereby allowing an agency to manage transactions for non-local patrons and/or provide local control of items belonging to another agency.