The National Library of Australia's document supply service: a brief overview

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to describe the role of the National Library of Australia in the Australian interlibrary loan environment, not just in terms of providing access to National Library collections through the document supply service, but also in providing infrastructure to support interlibrary loans across Australia.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper describes the various roles the National Library plays in the interlibrary loan/document delivery environment in Australia. It covers the document supply service and the Libraries Australia service, which provides the infrastructure that supports interlibrary loans/document delivery in Australia, and briefly reports on the evaluation of services currently being undertaken.

Findings

Providing access to library collections is complex and constantly changing. Client expectations are increasing, and libraries need to change traditional practices to meet user needs.

Originality/value

The paper covers the services offered by the National Library of Australia in supporting interlibrary loans/document delivery. Very few papers cover this topic.

Citation

Moreno, M. and Xu, A. (2010), "The National Library of Australia's document supply service: a brief overview", Interlending & Document Supply, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 4-11. https://doi.org/10.1108/02641611011025299