This book, first published in 1995, addresses the key issue facing libraries on how to survive in an age of interdependence. Increasingly, individual libraries must act as if each is part of a ‘world library’ Instead of being self-sufficient, each library, from the small public library to the large research library, must find ways to put materials from this ‘world library’ into the hands of its patrons and must stand ready to supply materials from its own collection to others, both quickly and cost-effectively through interlibrary loan. It explores the critical questions for making resource-sharing work, with particular emphasis on interlibrary loan. Cooperative collection development, economic decision models, consortial arrangements, copyright dilemmas, and the possibilities of technology are explored and a national project to revamp interlibrary loan and document delivery is described and future directions posited. Authors present historical perspective, explore the future, and report from multiple perspectives.

Through the perspectives of interlibrary loan (ILL) specialists, this book examines what ILL departments are doing, the value of ILL librarians in the evolving library environment, and how library collections and services are being affected by new ILL policies. Tapping a knowledge base of more than a dozen ILL practitioners, Posner offers diverse viewpoints on all that ILL specialists can do to help connect people and information, enabling library administrators, whose support ILL needs to succeed, to grasp how ILL is essential to fulfilling the information-sharing mission of all librarians. This volume also emphasizes how the ever-increasing interconnections between ILL and other areas of library activity behoove non-ILL librarians to be more aware of emerging ILL developments.

Written from a global perspective, this book reviews sharing of library resources on a global scale. With expanded discovery tools and massive digitization projects, the rich and extensive holdings of the world's libraries are more visible now than at any time in the past. Advanced communication and transmission technologies, along with improved international standards, present a means for the sharing of library resources around the globe. Despite these significant improvements, a number of challenges remain. Global Resource Sharing provides librarians and library managers with a comprehensive background in and summary of the issues involved in global resource sharing. - Analyses current and future environments for international resource sharing, including past research and discussions - Provides an international perspective on a global library issue - Includes examples of successful and innovative global resource sharing initiatives

The United States is entering an era when, more than ever, the sharing of resources and information might be critical to scientific progress. Every dollar saved by avoiding duplication of efforts and by producing economies of scale will become increasingly important as federal funding enters an era of fiscal restraint. This book focuses on six diverse case studies that share materials or equipment with the scientific community at large: the American Type Culture Collection, the multinational coordinated Arabidopsis thaliana Genome Research Project, the Jackson Laboratory, the Washington Regional Primate Research Center, the Macromolecular Crystallography Resource at the Cornell High-Energy Synchrotron Source, and the Human Genome Center at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The book also identifies common strengths and problems faced in the six cases, and presents a series of recommendations aimed at facilitating resource sharing in biomedical research.

Through the perspectives of interlibrary loan (ILL) specialists, this book examines what ILL departments are doing, the value of ILL librarians in the evolving library environment, and how library collections and services are being affected by new ILL policies. In today's libraries, ILL specialists are facilitating service that goes far beyond traditional borrowing and lending. Recent innovations in interlibrary loan and library resource-sharing practices have advanced the information-sharing mission of libraries—a sea change that affects and benefits all library operations and staff. This book explores the far-reaching significance of these innovations in ILL for other areas of library activity, from acquisitions and collection development to reference and instruction to circulation and e-resource management and beyond. Readers will understand that as valuable as traditional ILL remains, ILL librarians are also well-placed to do much more. For example, ILL staff can inform acquisitions and collection development decisions with request data; demonstrate the need to maintain and preserve the long tail of print; advocate for the fair use of copyrighted print material and license terms that safeguard library information sharing in the digital environment; nurture consortial relationships and international cooperation between libraries; and promote the discovery of information, all of which can help librarians meet the information needs of their communities.

Marshall Breeding’s new Library Technology Report explores technologies and strategies for sharing resources, helping you streamline workflows and improve resource-sharing services by covering key strategies like interlibrary loan, consortial borrowing, document delivery, and shared collections.