Citation
McGrath, M. (2002), "Editorial", Interlending & Document Supply, Vol. 30 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilds.2002.12230daa.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2002, MCB UP Limited
Editorial
This is my second issue of ILDS and I have become more conscious that ILL and document delivery is no longer a self-contained service. Understanding its role and assessing its future value for users, including best (and worst!) practice, requires an understanding of the environment within which it operates. This includes resource sharing, retrospective conversion of both records and full text, site licensing of journals, free access to digital material and "e" books. All these do and will continue to have an impact on our service; whether for better or worse is still an open question and one that will continue be addressed by this journal.
This issue has a UK bias that will be rectified in future issues!
Geoff Warren, the newly appointed regional development officer for England, conveys the complexity of recent developments in cross-sectoral resource sharing. In the first of two papers, David Baker, Pro Vice Chancellor at the University of East Anglia, looks at the experience of electronic document delivery in the higher education community in the UK, particularly through the controversial "e" lib programme. Fred Friend, Director of Scholarly Communications, argues that a breakthrough is needed to improve access to content for end users; this will only be accomplished by new models being developed through collaboration with stakeholders. Manfredi La Manna and Jean Young describe the Electronic Society for Social Scientists model, an exciting development for the management of peer reviewed articles and a healthy reminder that "e" journal issues are not confined to the scientific, technical and medical fields. They conclude that the very definition of "lending" and "document" need redefining.
Maurice Line updates a piece by Donald Urquhart, the founder of Boston Spa, written for a conference in Buenos Aires in 1970.
The IFLA conference has come and gone; a memorable week in Glasgow is reported on as well as the more parochial FIL conference in Exeter. Three book reviews, the miscellany and the literature review all provide food for thought. Happy eating!
An invitation
ILDS invites you to send short reports for publication of events, seminars and conferences on interlending and document delivery from around the world. Please send to mike.mcgrath@britishlibrary.net
(My e-mail address does not signify employment by the British Library. It is the only public service ISP in the world and is available free to all librarians via the British Library Web site, www.bl.uk).
Mike McGrath Editor