THE BRITISH LIBRARY LENDING DIVISION IN 1981–82

Abstract

Demand fell in 1981–82 for the second year running, although contrary to 1980–81 foreign demand increased. A total of 2,686,000 requests were received and 87% were satisfied from stock. Speed of service was improved. The price of the UK service was increased to maintain cost recovery and protect the acquisition budget. Total traffic carried by the road/rail transport schemes increased. Requests from abroad now account for 20% of total demand. A Working Party on Union Catalogues has recommended that a catalogue of Lending Division monographs and a union list of foreign language monographs should be produced on COM, and that the former should be made available on line. The British Library Serials Titles file has been expanded further, and the Lending Division's holdings of pre‐1801 books have been recorded. A cut in real terms in the budget meant that selective measures were needed to trim expenditure on acquisitions, and reductions had to be made in the Gift and Exchange service. The extension to the Urquhart Building was officially opened, and plans for converting two existing buildings for future storage were developed. Surveys were carried out to assess user satisfaction, content and accuracy of serial requests, and demand for duplicate monographs. Developments in the in‐house serials system and the receipt of requests by computer links continued. Demand for retrospective searches on MEDLINE fell by 17%, and the CISDC service had to be terminated. The publications programme continued successfully.