Researching into the Availability of Publications

Abstract

Research for the Universal Availability of Publications program was needed to demonstrate the need for improvement and to suggest ways of achieving it. Money, man power, and time were all in short supply. The approach adopted was to conduct an extensive literature review, supplemented by questionnaires and personal knowledge and contacts, then to carry out a detailed analysis of requirements, criteria, obstacles, and so on, and finally to construct conceptual models of possible systems that might be applicable in different types of countries. The study of national interlending systems, which is summarized, illustrates this approach; three of the other five studies (of national acquisition systems, national retention systems, and international provision and supply), which are more briefly outlined, followed a similar pattern. The research approach used might be appropriate for other very broad topics where little hard information is available.