Open access and document supply

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to provide an overview and update of what one actually knows about the impact of open access on inter-lending and document supply. Design/methodology/approach – A review of recent papers, published after the Berlin Declaration on Open Access in 2003. Findings – Everything seems to oppose document supply and open access. Open access has contributed to the recent decline of interlibrary loan (ILL) and document supply requests but is not the only reason and probably not the most important. Open repositories and open-access journals have the potential to substitute ILL and document supply; yet for different reasons, including legal compliance, this substitution remains of limited interest. ILL and document supply institutions have started to integrate open access into their workflow and service provision in different ways, and the paper provides a conceptual framework with some perspectives for further service development. Originality/value – Paradoxically, relatively few papers make the link between open access and document supply, with empirical and/or conceptual elements. This paper proposes a synthesis and opens perspectives for future development and research.