Inter-library loan (abbreviated ILL, sometimes called document delivery, document supply, inter-lending, inter-library services, inter-loan, or resource sharing) is a service that enables patrons of one library to borrow materials that are held by another library. [1]
After receiving a request, the borrowing library identifies potential lending libraries with the desired item. The lending library delivers the item physically or electronically, and the borrowing library receives the item and delivers it to their patron, and if necessary, arranges for its return. Sometimes, fees accompany interlibrary loan services.
Libraries can define what materials from their holdings are eligible for interlibrary loan. Many journal or database licenses specify whether a library can or cannot supply journal articles via ILL, with libraries negotiating for ILL eligibility. [2] [3]
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) developed ISO standards 10160 and 10161 to standardize terminology and define a set of communication protocols between interlibrary loan systems. [4] [5]
Informal borrowing and lending between libraries has examples in Western Europe as early as the 8th century CE. [6]
In the 16th century, Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc unsuccessfully attempted to establish an interlibrary loan system between the Royal Library at the Louvre Palace in Paris and the Vatican Library in Rome. [7]
In 1876, Massachusetts librarian Samuel Swett Green published a proposal for an interlibrary loan system modeled on European examples, writing, "It would add greatly to the usefulness of our reference libraries if an agreement should be made to lend books to each other for short periods of time." [8]
In 1886, Joseph C. Rowell, librarian at the University of California, Berkeley, sought permission to begin an interlibrary loan program. In 1894, Rowell initiated U.C. Berkeley's first program of interlibrary lending with the California State Library. [9] In 1917, the American Library Association established a national code for interlibrary loan in the United States. [10]
In China, formalized interlibrary loan policies were established as early as 1924 through the Shanghai Library Constitution. [11]
In 1927, an increase in international lending and borrowing between libraries following the First World War led to the establishment of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA). IFLA published the "International Resource Sharing and Document Delivery: Principles and Guidelines for Procedure" in 1954. [12]
In Great Britain, Kate Edith Pierce became the chair of the newly formed East Midlands Regional Library Bureau in 1935. Enabled by Carnegie Trust funding, the Bureau introduced formalized "Inter-Library Lending". [13]
The Ohio State University and others in Ohio began integrating campus library systems at an early date. In the 1960s, state funds supported development of the Ohio College Library Center, now the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC). [14]
In 1994, the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the ALA (America Library Association) formed an ALA Interlibrary Loan Code for the United States. [15]
In 1997, following a flash flood that significantly damaged its physical journal holdings, Colorado State University developed RapidILL as a resource sharing solution. [16] The service has grown to include over 300 member libraries internationally, with most member libraries in the United States. In 2019, Ex Libris acquired RapidILL from CSU. [17]
Libraries have established voluntary associations for resource sharing, organized on a regional or national basis, or through other affiliations such as university systems with multiple campuses, communities of libraries with related holdings and research interests, or established library consortia.
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) guides interlibrary loan policies internationally. [18]
In the US, the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) is used by public and academic libraries. Formerly, Research Libraries Group (RLG) was used primarily by academic libraries, but it merged with OCLC in July, 2006. [19] The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) is a major resource sharing network in North America with a buy-in membership system. [20] Other large resource sharing networks include Libraries Very Interested in Sharing (LVIS) [21] and Amigos. [22]
Medical libraries in the United States participate in the National Network of Libraries of Medicine to share resources. The National Library of Medicine developed the request routing system DOCLINE for this purpose. [23]
The South African Bibliographic and Information Network (SABINET) was developed in 1983 for the purposes of collection development and resource sharing across libraries in South Africa. [24]
In Ghana, the Ghana Inter-Library Lending and Document Delivery Network (GILLDDNET) pioneered resource sharing in West Africa. The network was replaced in 2004 by the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries (CARLIGH). [25]
Consorcio Iberoamericano para la Educación en Ciencia y Tecnología (ISTEC) is a consortium and resource sharing network of 50 institutions across 17 countries in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula, with a focus on science and technology materials. [26] Many ISTEC member libraries use the software Celsius, which was developed as part of the consortium initiative. [27]
Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de El Salvador (CBUES) is a resource sharing consortium of institutions in El Salvador with comments that there are other CBUES affiliated institutions along the Atlantic coast, including libraries from Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico and Panama; however only El Salvadorian institutions are listed on CBUES's website. [28]
In France, the PEB ILL network services over 300 libraries using the SUPEB ILL software. [29]
In Germany, Gateway Bayern (GB) is the ILL network and tool for Bavarian libraries, including the Bavarian State Library. [30]
National Library of New Zealand (Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa)DELNET, the Developing Library Network (formerly the Delhi Library Network), is a resource sharing network supporting India and South Asia. [31] [32]
The National Diet Library of Japan serves as a resource sharing hub for Japanese-language materials domestically and internationally. [33]
Launched in 1998, China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS) is a Beijing-based academic library consortium that facilitates interlibrary loan among research libraries in China. [34]
New Zealand utilizes the National Library of New Zealand [36] .
An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication (periodical), such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs are used in ordering, cataloging, interlibrary loans, and other practices in connection with serial literature.
A public lending right (PLR) is a program intended to either compensate authors for the potential loss of sales from their works being available in public libraries or as a governmental support of the arts, through support of works available in public libraries, such as books, music and artwork.
Copac was a union catalogue which provided free access to the merged online catalogues of many major research libraries and specialist libraries in the United Kingdom and Ireland, plus the British Library, the National Library of Scotland and the National Library of Wales. It had over 40 million records from around 90 libraries as of 2019, representing a wide range of materials across all subject areas. Copac was freely available to all, and was widely used, with users mainly coming from Higher Education institutions in the United Kingdom, but also worldwide. Copac was valued by users as a research tool.
Library collection development is the process of systematically building the collection of a particular library to meet the information needs of the library users in a timely and economical manner using information resources locally held as well as resources from other organizations. "According to is a dynamic self perpetuation cycle or process and consists six definable stages namely,community analysis, selection policies, selection, acquisition, weeding and evaluation.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to library and information science:
VDX is a software product for interlibrary loan (ILL) and document request management. VDX was developed by UK company Fretwell-Downing Informatics, a company which in 2005 was taken over by OCLC PICA, itself wholly acquired by OCLC Online Computer Library Center in 2007.
ISO 10161 is the ISO standard, first published in 1993, that defines the interlibrary loan (ILL) application protocol for communication between various document exchange systems. It allows ILL systems at different libraries and residing on different hardware platforms and using different software packages such as VDX to communicate with each other to request and receive electronic documents. It is closely related to ISO 10160, the Interlibrary Loan Application Service Definition.
The TexShare program is a statewide resource-sharing consortium of hundreds of member libraries in Texas, United States administered by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC). The TexShare program maximizes the effectiveness of library expenditures by enabling member libraries to share staff expertise, share materials electronic and print formats, pursue joint purchasing agreements on electronic databases, and encourage the cooperative development of Texas libraries statewide. TexShare is made up of Texas academic libraries, public libraries, and libraries of clinical medicine. TexShare is a member driven consortium that exists with the support and cooperation of Texas member libraries.
The Serials Union Catalogue, or SUNCAT, was a freely available source of information about serials holdings in the United Kingdom, for the UK research community.
The non-profit Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC) is a library-related organization.
Iran Software & Hardware Co. (NOSA) is an independently owned development and consulting corporation, which provides software applications and support to businesses of all sizes located in Iran. Since its founding in 1988, NOSA has engaged in the development and distribution of a range of integrated Business Software, ERP, MIS, BPMS, RFID, and Library Solution as well as related products designed to meet the needs of the public, private and not-for-profit organizations in the region.
A library consortium is any cooperative association of libraries that coordinates resources and/or activities on behalf of its members, whether they are academic, public, school or special libraries, and/or information centers. Library consortia have been created to service specific regions or geographic areas, e.g., local, state, regional, national or international. Many libraries commonly belong to multiple consortia. The goal of a library consortium is to amplify the capabilities and effectiveness of its member libraries through collective action, including, but not limited to, print or electronic resource sharing, reducing costs through group purchases of resources, and hosting professional development opportunities. The “bedrock principle upon which consortia operate is that libraries can accomplish more together than alone.”
The Australian National Bibliographic Database (ANBD), formerly part of the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN) and for some years renamed Kinetica, is a national shared library cataloguing network, hosted by the National Library of Australia. It commenced in 1981 in Australia as the ABN, and after a series of rebrandings and added services, has since 2006 been available through Libraries Australia. In mid-2019, Libraries Australia partnered with Trove, and as of June 2020 is set to be co-branded with Trove.
E-Theses Online Service (EThOS) is a bibliographic database and union catalogue of electronic theses provided by the British Library, the National Library of the United Kingdom. As of February 2022 EThOS provided access to over 500,000 doctoral theses awarded by over 140 UK higher education institutions, with around 3,000 new thesis records added every month until the British Library cyberattack forced the service to be temporarily taken offline.
The Boston Library Consortium (BLC) is a library consortium based in the Boston area with 26 member institutions across New England.
A collective collection, shared collection, collaborative collection, or shared print program is a joint effort by multiple academic or research libraries to house, manage, and provide access to their collective physical collections. Most shared print programs focus on collections of monographs and/or serials. Similar efforts have addressed acquisition and/or retention of microform, federal government documents, and digital collections. Shared print programs often have activities in common with national repositories and archiving programs. Discussions surrounding shared print programs in their current form have come to the forefront as a popular solution to shrinking collection budgets, rising costs of resources, and competing space needs.
Christine Deschamps is a French librarian. She was president of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) from 1997 to 2003. She wanted to lead the library sector towards a truly international work, and make it more inclusive for those whom English was not their first language. She stated that she wanted her presidency to be remembered as a pragmatic mandate.
Maria Musoke, sometimes referred to as Maria G.N. Musoke is a Ugandan information scientist and academician. She is the first Ugandan woman to obtain a PhD in Information Science. She is a professor of Information Science and a Deputy Vice Chancellor at Kyambogo University in Uganda. She also serves as a council member (2019–2022) of the Uganda National Academy of Sciences.
The Zimbabwe Library Association (ZimLA) is an association that represents library, records, archives and information professionals in Zimbabwe. Membership for those who wish to join the association is voluntary.
Virginia Boucher is a former librarian and professor emerita at University of Colorado Boulder. She was a pioneer in the field of interlibrary loans. The annual Virginia Boucher/OCLC Distinguished ILL Librarian Award, delivered by the American Library Association (ALA) and OCLC to librarians for "outstanding professional achievement, leadership and contributions to ILL and document delivery through publication of significant professional literature, participation in professional associations, and/or innovative approaches to practice in individual libraries," was established in her honor in 2000.
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