We're Still Waitfng for the Document Delivery Revolution Number 50

In the last 20 yearn, information science and technology have revolutionized the way researchers use the literature. We have described how many of the newer information systems have radically transformed the retrieval of bibliographic information. Indeed, it is safe to say that the ancient problem of “bibliographic control” has been solved. 1 Citation indexing, keyword indexing, and online access make it possible to rapidly produce a bibliography on almost any subject. However, online systems such as MEDLINE and SCISEARCW are not backed up with equally instantaneous access to original material. You can often identify a relevant article in seconds. But if your library doesn’t have that article conveniently or quickly available, your frustration level is rapidly exceeded. So we need to improve document delivery services. The existing interlibrary loan systems just are not adequate for the task. And I don’t believe we need to wait for the time when every scientific journal or book is available in machine language. Libraries have a long history of reciprocal borrowing. z In the days when scientists could rely on a small stock of journals to satisfy most needs, local libraries could limp along on interlibrary loans. The inconvenience entailed by the occasional odd request that had to be procured through interlibrary loan was tolerable. But today, the demand for articles not stocked by a given local library is quite large. According to Henriette D. Avram, Library of ConDecember 13,1982