Document Supply Research Articles

Document supply services enhance access to information resources in Uganda

PurposeThis paper aims to highlight the development of document supply services in Uganda, and Makerere University in particular, and the role they have played in increasing access to and use of information resources.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents DSS at different levels and in different formats. Two major levels are discussed: The first is from international sources through collaborations/partnerships with Makerere University to benefit the Makerere University community; while the second type is within Uganda – from Makerere University to benefit other universities, rural institutions and practitioners/extension workers.FindingsImproved document delivery service has played an important role in resource sharing, which has led to increased access and usage of information resources in UgandaOriginality/valueThe paper is of value to librarians and other practising information professionals as well as library school students who may need to develop document supply services to under‐resourced areas and particularly remote regions.

Document supply of grey literature and open access: an update

PurposeThis paper seeks to investigate the impact of the open archive initiative on the document supply of grey literature.Design/methodology/approachThe article is based on a comparative survey of five major scientific and technical information centres: The British Library (UK), CISTI (Canada), INIST‐CNRS (France), KISTI (South Korea), and TIB Hannover (Germany).FindingsAll major document suppliers are quite deeply involved in the open archive movement, and this involvement has an obvious impact on the policy of acquisition, archiving and supply of grey literature (dissertations, reports, conferences etc.).Originality/valueThe paper is a follow‐up study of the survey published in 2006.

Study Fails to Link ILL Usage Patterns to Liaison Activities

A Review of:
 Leykam, Andrew. “Exploring Interlibrary Loan Usage Patterns and Liaison Activities: The Experience at a U.S. University.” Interlending & Document Supply 36.4 (2008): 218-24.
 
 Objective - To investigate Interlibrary Loan (ILL) usage patterns, and connect them to liaison activities beyond collection development.
 
 Design – Pattern analysis of ILL requests.
 
 Setting – Library of The College of Staten Island, a mid-size, public university with predominantly undergraduate enrolment.
 
 Subjects – 4,875 identifiable requests over a three-year period.
 
 Methods – A data set of requests for ILLs of monographs over a period of three years was acquired from OCLC resource sharing statistics. This data was manually reviewed to remove duplicate records of the same request, but not multiple requests for the same item. The data included requestor status, department, publication date and subject classification of requested items.
 
 Main Results – Differences in use across user statuses and departments were identified.
 
 Conclusion – Usage Patterns can accurately illustrate trends in the borrowing behaviour of patrons, and be used to inform liaison librarians about user needs.

The 11th Interlending and Document Supply Conference in Hannover, 20-22 October 2009

The 11th Interlending and Document Supply Conference in Hannover, 20-22 October 2009

The Importance of Understanding Statistics: An Analysis of Document Supply Statistics at Macquarie University Library

Macquarie University Library was concerned at the length of time that elapsed between placement of an interlibrary loan request to the satisfaction of that request. Taking advantage of improved statistical information available to them through membership of the CLIC Consortium, library staff investigated the reasons for delivery delay. This led to the review of procedures and workflows which brought about improvements to turnaround time

Sharing resources, networking and document delivery: the INIST experience

PurposeThis article aims to outline how the Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (INIST‐CNRS), the French leader in the document delivery market, works with a broad national and international network of some 200 libraries and STI centres. It also seeks to provide an overview of recent developments in the French academic ILL network and of French copyright legislation, as well as information on negotiations with publishers on secure electronic delivery.Design/methodology/approachThe article is based on a communication at the 10th Interlending and Document Supply conference, Singapore, 29‐31 October 2007. It is descriptive and based on INIST data and experience.FindingsResource sharing and networking in document delivery on a national and international level have become essential to maintain good quality services.Originality/valueThe article focuses on INIST‐CNRS, a leader in the document delivery market.

Resource Sharing for the Future: Building‐blocks to Success A report of the 10th Interlending and Document Supply Conference, National Library Singapore, 29‐31 October 2007

PurposeThis paper seeks to report on the 10th ILDS Conference held in Singapore.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is descriptive in approach.FindingsThe conference was very successful and, contrary to rumours, interlending and document supply is alive and well throughout the world.Originality/valueThe paper is a report on the only international conference held on the subject of interlending and document supply.

Library customer service in an Italian university library: from ILL to circulation and back

PurposeThis paper aims to describe the changes taking place at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, after the introduction of a new automated system, and to propose the integration of the work of the Document Supply (DS) and the Circulation Departments with radical changes in the job descriptions of both.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is descriptive in nature.FindingsAutomation has led to process changes but not yet to the staffing changes that have become possible.Originality/valueThe paper shows how one university is responding to the changes that are taking place technologically and particularly in relation to document supply librarians and staff in the service areas of the main library.

Interlending and Document Supply in Britain Today

Interlending and Document Supply in Britain Today

The Effect of Mass Purchase on Document Supply Service at South Korean Medical Libraries

The Effect of Mass Purchase on Document Supply Service at South Korean Medical Libraries

Recent developments in Remote Document Supply (RDS) in the UK – 3

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a review of recent developments in remote document supply and related matters in the UK.Design/methodology/approachThe article is based on a range of articles, reports, papers and web sites.FindingsWith the decline in remote document supply the future participation of a key institution is called into question. While there are few other realistic options, the two leading alternatives are engaged in a battle for the same market. Furthermore, the future of key standard underpinning transactions is also uncertain.Originality/valueThe article provides an overview of current developments in UK document supply by an experienced practitioner.

Donald J. Urquhart and the integration of science with librarianship: Part 2

PurposeTo analyze the historical significance of Donald J. Urquhart, who established the National Lending Library for Science and Technology (NLL) which later was merged into the British Library Lending Division (BLLD), now called the British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC). His significance will be considered from the perspective of the development of science as a whole as well as library and information science in particular.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a short history of the probabilistic revolution, particularly as it developed in Britain in the form of biometric statistics due to Darwin's theory of evolution. It focuses on the overthrow of the normal paradigm, according to which frequency distributions in nature and society conform to the normal law of error. The paper discusses the importance of the Poisson distribution and its utilization in the construction of stochastic models that better describe reality. Here the focus is on the compound Poisson distribution in the form of the negative binomial distribution (NBD). The paper then shows how Urquhart extended the probabilistic revolution to librarianship by using the Poisson as the probabilistic model in his analyses of the 1956 external loans made by the Science Museum Library (SML) as well as in his management of the scientific and technical (sci/tech) journal collection of the NLL. Due to this, Urquhart can be considered as playing a pivotal role in the creation of bibliometrics or the statistical bases of modern library and information science. The paper relates how Urquhart's son and daughter‐in‐law, John A. and Norma C. Urquhart, completed Urquhart's probabilistic breakthrough by advancing for the first time the NBD as the model for library use in a study done at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, connecting bibliometrics with biometrics. It concludes with a discussion of Urquhart's Law and its probabilistic implications for the use of sci/tech journals in a library system.FindingsBy being the first librarian to apply probability to the analysis of sci/tech journal use, Urquhart was instrumental in the creation of modern library and information science. His findings force a probabilistic re‐conceptualization of sci/tech journal use in a library system that has great implications for the transition of sci/tech journals from locally held paper copies to shared electronic databases.Originality/valueThis is the second part of an article describing the seminal contribution of Donald Urquhart to the development of document supply in the UK and internationally.

10th IFLA Interlending and Document Supply (ILDS) International Conference

10th IFLA Interlending and Document Supply (ILDS) International Conference

10th IFLA Interlending and Document Supply (ILDS) International Conference, 29-31 October 2007, National Library, Singapore

10th IFLA Interlending and Document Supply (ILDS) International Conference, 29-31 October 2007, National Library, Singapore

Book Review: Interlending and Document Supply in Britain Today

Book Review: Interlending and Document Supply in Britain Today

Document supply in Italy: actual models and future perspectives

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to offer a view to non‐Italian librarians on Italian document supply (DS) developments and to submit to Italian DS librarians some points for discussion and some problems to solve.Design/methodology/approachItalian DS is described from the perspective of a large university library's interactions with its users (faculty, undergraduate students and researchers) and its suppliers (Italian and European libraries together with non‐library suppliers). Some characteristics of Italian library systems can be better understood by referring to the historical context; other characteristics reflect the difficulty of considering DS services as a strategic service integrated with other services.FindingsItalian DS services reveal two models of organisation and strategy, the networked and the independent. Four key factors are changing the target population, partners, policies and the role of DS in Italy: university reform, the increasing number of online full text journals available in universities, transdisciplinary research, and the internet.Originality/valueThe article can be used by non‐Italian librarians to obtain information about Italian libraries and their DS services. It gives some useful URLs and some guidance to finding documents via Italian OPACs.

Document supply in a large research library: the experience of the London School of Economics

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to describe the measures taken to deal with some issues affecting the LSE interlending and document delivery (IDD) department within the last two years.Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides a descriptive approach.FindingsThere is a wide range of issues affecting document supply at present and a variety of approaches is needed to deal with them.Research limitations/implicationsSome research was carried out by a colleague into user satisfaction and what developments users would like to see in the future.Originality/valueLSE is a fairly unusual IDD department but the issues discussed will be familiar to many colleagues. This case study describes one way of dealing with them that may help colleagues make decisions in their own departments.

Donald J. Urquhart and the integration of science with librarianship: Part 1

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to analyze the historical significance of Donald J. Urquhart, who established the National Lending Library for Science and Technology (NLL) that later was merged into the British Library Lending Division (BLLD), now called the British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC).Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a short history of the probabilistic revolution, particularly as it developed in the UK in the form of biometric statistics due to Darwin's theory of evolution. It focuses on the overthrow of the normal paradigm, according to which frequency distributions in nature and society conform to the normal law of error. The paper discusses the importance of the Poisson distribution and its utilization in the construction of stochastic models that better describe reality. Here the focus is on the compound Poisson distribution in the form of the negative binomial distribution (NBD). The paper then shows how Urquhart extended the probabilistic revolution to librarianship by using the Poisson as the probabilistic model in his analyses of the 1956 external loans made by the Science Museum Library (SML) as well as in his management of the scientific and technical (sci/tech) journal collection of the NLL. Thanks to this, Urquhart can be considered as playing a pivotal role in the creation of bibliometrics or the statistical bases of modern library and information science. The paper relates how Urquhart's son and daughter‐in‐law, John A. and Norma C. Urquhart, completed Urquhart's probabilistic breakthrough by advancing for the first time the NBD as the model for library use in a study executed at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, connecting bibliometrics with biometrics. It concludes with a discussion of Urquhart's Law and its probabilistic implications for the use of sci/tech journals in a library system.FindingsBy being the first librarian to apply probability to the analysis of sci/tech journal use, Urquhart was instrumental in the creation of modern library and information science. His findings force a probabilistic re‐conceptualization of sci/tech journal use in a library system that has great implications for the transition of sci/tech journals from locally held paper copies to shared electronic databases.Originality/valueUrquhart's significance is considered from the perspective of the development of science as a whole as well as library and information science in particular.

10th IFLA Interlending and Document Supply International Conference

10th IFLA Interlending and Document Supply International Conference

Book Review: Interlending and Document Supply in Britain Today

Book Review: Interlending and Document Supply in Britain Today