Archive - Historical Material

One of the most significant recent developments for libraries has been the increasing availability of electronic versions of journals produced by the major publishers. Virtually instant online access to the full text of articles is engineering a fundamental rethink of how libraries provide information and services to their users: are libraries as physical entities still needed; can end-users go it alone in searching for and retrieving the documents they require; how can new and traditional services be effectively integrated, and so on.

However, while technically many things are possible, the business models, the information delivery infrastructure, and the shifting relationships between the traditional players are still in a state of flux and do not as yet provide a solid basis on which librarians can make confident decisions about the future. While the direction remains unclear, the expectations of those who seek information continues to outstrip the ability to deliver that information in the form required. For the time being the role of the document suppliers remains undiminished.

Many commentators believe that once the new relationships between primary publishers, secondary publishers, database producers, subscription agents and the libraries they serve begin to stabilise then the various electronic journals and electronic stores will make much of the traditional ILL and document delivery redundant with the consequent demise of services such as BLDSC.

This paper will explore the role of document supply services in the new paradigm and argue that, if they can seize the opportunity, far from being redundant, they will have a vital though substantially different role to play.

The paper should be of interest to librarians from the developing countries who will continue to have recourse to traditional document delivery services.