An Interlibrary Loan System on the World-Wide-Web

Inter-Library Loan (ILL) service is one of the services provided by libraries that offers users a way to access library resources beyond their affiliated libraries. Additionally, it allows participating libraries to share and maximize their resources. This work examines the ILL process used by libraries in Singapore and proposes that the existing paper-based manual system be replaced by a Web-based ILL system. Such a Web-based system has been successfully designed and implemented at the Nanyang Technological University. The paper presents on overview of the system requirements and architecture, implementation details and demonstrates the feasibility and advantages of the new system. INTRODUCTION The Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service provides an avenue for users of the library to borrow books, periodicals or other library resources from other participating libraries when these cannot be found in their own library. The provision of such a service potentially widens the range of library materials offered by the library and optimizes resource usage among participating libraries. However, existing ILL systems are largely manual systems that require substantial user intervention in the ILL process. Apart from a few ILL systems in universities, such as the University of Stirling (Stirling, 1997) and University of Arkansas (Arkansas, 1995) that support World -Wide-Web based ILL systems, the remainder are likely to be manual systems or commercial ILL modules such as Softlink's Library Automation Software (Softlink, 1997). Nonetheless, the number of manual ones far exceeds = Schubert Foo (PhD, MBA, BSc, CEng, MIMechE, MBCS) Email: [email protected] • Ee Peng Lim (PhD, BSc, MACM) Email: [email protected]