Document delivery – breaking the mould

Abstract

This article takes a personal look – retrospectively and prospectively – at the application of information and communications technology within library and information services in UK higher education (UKHE). It looks particularly at the ways in which document delivery has been transformed into a central driver in Internet‐based library service developments and considers recent innovations and likely future pathways. It focuses on the results of programmes such as the Joint Information Systems Committee’s e‐Lib Programme and subsequent attempts to provide radical alternatives to the dominant design of traditional inter‐library loan and document supply services, and it draws on first‐hand experience of the innovation process through projects such as EDDIS and Agora.