Section on Document Delivery and Interlending

Medium Term Programme 1998-2001
(Revised Bangkok/1999)

Scope

The Section's primary objective is to extend and improve document delivery and interlending both nationally and internationally through the use of new technologies and increased cooperation among libraries and document suppliers.

The Section monitors developments and provides information to its membership through a section website, twice-yearly newsletter, programs at IFLA conferences, support of document delivery workshops, and cooperative projects with the IFLA Office of Interlending and other international organizations.]

Goals for 1998-2001

Studies and projects:

1. Optimize international access to document location information.
2. Monitor the impact of electronic publishing and other forms of automation on document delivery and ILL.
3. Monitor the impact of copyright and other legal matters on document delivery in all forms.
4. Develop principles and models in charging for document delivery and interlending.
5. Address the special problems of document delivery and interlending in developing countries.
6. Provide regional seminars and other forms of training for specialists in document delivery and interlending.
7. Training in meeting users needs (satisfying the user).
8. Develop and implement protocols and standards.
9. Develop statistical methods in document delivery and interlending.

Annex: Action Plan, [1998-1999] 2000-2001

Goal 1: Optimize international access to document location information by supporting efforts to create virtual catalogs and virtual libraries that make holdings information accessible world wide. (No activity pending.)

Goal 2: Monitor the impact of electronic publishing and other forms of technology on document delivery and ILL.

1. Monitor developments in consortia and national licensing of electronic publications, especially as this affects the ability of libraries to fulfill orders for interlibrary lending.

Goal 3: Monitor the impact of copyright and other legal matters on document delivery in all forms.

1. Serve as an advocate for a balance in copyright issues by providing technical and specialist expertise to the new IFLA Committee on Copyright and other Legal Matters. Raise issues regarding customs barriers, cultural exports, and disputed collections.
2. Monitor IFLA stand on licensing that prohibits further document delivery.
3. Conduct a workshop during the Jerusalem/2000 conference that addresses document delivery issues in copyright licensing agreements.
4. Monitor effect of new copyright laws and regulations that prohibit digitizing of copyrighted material, especially as they effect libraries' ability to deliver copies electronically in any appropriate way.
5. Work with the UAP office to explore ways to encourage national postal services and commercial delivery services to reduce rates for the international exchange of library materials.

Goal 4: Develop principles and models in charging for document delivery and ILL.

1. Support actions of IFLA Office for International Lending to develop an electronic voucher scheme that avoids manual handling and rekeying of voucher data and maintains fiscal security.
2. Form a committee to study draft a revision of the IFLA Guidelines for Interlending (Erlandsen, Gould, Hanson, Ménil, Street)

Goal 5: Address the special problems of document delivery and interlending in developing countries.

1. Produce a program for the Jerusalem/2000 conference on the current state of Interlending and Document Delivery in the region.
2. Explore the possibility of joining with University Libraries Section in producing a preseminar in Alexandria Egypt on the general topic of institutional cooperation. The preseminar must be fully recognized by IFLA as part of the Jerusalem/2000 Conference.

Goal 6: Provide regional seminars and other forms of training for specialists in document delivery and interlending.

1. Produce a workshop on improving interlending and document supply for the 6th International Conference on Interlending and Document Supply (Mary Jackson).

Goal 7: Training in meeting users' needs - satisfying the user.

1. Produce a program on "Involving the End User - Patron Direct ILL" for the Boston/2001 IFLA General Conference.
2. Support the activities of the Discussion Group on Reference Work and work for its establishment as an IFLA Section.

Goal 8: Develop and implement protocols and standards.

1. Prepare a workshop for the Boston/2001 conference with 2 or more vendors demonstrating the ability to pass a request across dissimilar systems by using the protocol.
2. Monitor the implementation of the ISO ILL protocols as they effect interoperability of systems in the international arena.

Goal 9: Develop statistical methods in document delivery and interlending.

1. Study applicability to international lending of US efforts to implement "best practices" for ILL.
2. Investigate developing a methodology for measuring success in libraries in indifferent countries and geographic areas.