Interlibrary Loans and Collection Failure at La Trobe University Library: Report on a Research Project

Abstract

ABSTRACTDiscusses the context and the results of an analysis of interlibrary loans from the Bundoora campus of La Trobe University for 1989 and 1990, with special emphasis on the following data: type of publications lent, the date of their publication, the subject and language of books lent, the requestor's department, the status of the requestor and the supplying library. The outcome refuted the hypothesis that interlibrary loans at La Trobe were the result of the newness of the university, the introduction of new disciplines or the wide spread of languages and subjects taught. There are sufficient indications in the data collected, the authors conclude, to suggest that the identified gaps in the collection are not easy to circumvent and the ‘old 80/20 rule seems to apply here’.