Cooperative collection management: the conspectus approach: Edited by Georgine N. Olson and Barbara McFadden Allen. New York and London: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 1994. 107 pp. $29.95. ISBN 1-55570-200-7. (Also published as Collection Building, vol. 13, nos. 3–4, 1994).

Abstract

In the winter of 1993/1994, the Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) Libraries began a project to test several of the emerging commercial document suppliers. The purpose was to evaluate their responses in terms of speed, efficiency, quality, and cost effectiveness. The testing was done in four science branch libraries at University Park. In each of the branches (Earth & Mineral Sciences, Engineering, Mathematics, and Physical Sciences) requests that were submitted for Interlibrary Loan (ILL) were reviewed. Those that qualified under the pilot project guidelines were sent to commercial suppliers of documents, instead of through the normal ILL work flow. Compiled data indicated that the cost of each item and the time taken to supply items were less than that required for ILL. The pilot project suggests that when integrated into ILL work flows, acquiring items through commercial document delivery suppliers would assist in making the process less costly and more efficient.