Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery

Gone are the days of old where the interlibrary loan department is hidden away in the far back dark corner of the office space. Interlibrary loan is important to both the patron and the staff. In the past, the interlibrary loan was tucked away in a remote corner of the library. Today, it is up front and most of the time in full view. Interlibrary Loan services are a key strategy in ensuring that scholars and researchers have the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research in a resource-rich environment, enabling discovery, analysis, and reflection leading to the creation of new knowledge. It augments the library's carefully selected collection, and almost unquestionably seems to bring value to the work of the university community. But are traditional measures sufficient to demonstrate the success of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery, and Resource Sharing and their impact on the university? Are traditional measures actually output measures, rather than indicators of value and impact? Inter-library lending has existed as a tradition as long as libraries have existed in their present form. It has of course always been necessary to supplement local holdings with external resources, as libraries could never expect to be capable of satisfying all demands at all times. However, in recent years this activity has played an increasingly important role in the majority of libraries, for several reasons.

This book explains interlibrary loan practices and procedures and offers specific action plans and templates to help the uninitiated handle these tasks. Interlibrary loan is essential to the vitality of libraries of all types and sizes and is a means by which a wider range of materials can be made available to users. In the interests of providing quality service, libraries have an obligation to obtain materials to meet the informational needs of users when local resources do not meet those needs. Interlibrary loan is the process by which a library requests materials from, or supplies materials to another library. The sole purpose of interlibrary loan is to obtain, upon request of a library patron, materials not available in the user's local library. We live in an age of expanding information, growing technology for sharing that information, and ever increasing demands for academic endeavor. The interlibrary loan is an important service because individual libraries agree to share their collections and to supply materials on demand to another library for their patron use. The effectiveness of this resource sharing system depends largely upon the distribution of borrowing and lending. This book is an essential resource for librarians and their staffs working at all levels—from beginner to expert.