Archive - Historical Material

The University of Zimbabwe Medical Library (UZML), Zimbabwe's national medical library, provides medical and biomedical information to students, the academic community and the country's health professionals. This national focal point is inadequately funded and suffers from poor telecommunications, with only occasional Internet connectivity. The dwindling donor funding for journal subscriptions has resulted in drastic journal cancellations forcing the UZML to shift from ownership to access. Emphasis is now on the use of CD-ROM databases like MEDLINE, the COCHRANE Library, the African Health Anthology, POPLINE and CINAHL. A document supply service partially sponsored by SIDA-SAREC helps to acquire journal articles identified on these databases.

The absence of formal agreements results in the UZML relying on the goodwill of South African libraries. It also heavily depends on support from the University of Utrecht, the British Medical Association and the University of Florida Libraries for interlending and document supply services. The UZML subscribes to the British Library Document Supply Centre, but it cannot utilise its services because the billing system is expensive and not sustainable without donor funding.

The paper discusses interlending and document supply experiences and practices at the UZML. It shows how CD-ROM facilities combine with e-mail on the Healthnet system to provide a viable interlending and document supply service.