Distance delivery: the National Library of Wales

Citation

Griffiths, R. (2003), "Distance delivery: the National Library of Wales", Interlending & Document Supply, Vol. 31 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilds.2003.12231bab.004

Distance delivery: the National Library of Wales

Those who are familiar with the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth know that it is a grand and imposing building overlooking Cardigan Bay. Those who come to the library do in general find it a welcoming place and enjoy using its services. It is, however, frequently remarked that the library is geographically remote, as travel to Aberystwyth tends to take time (as indeed does travel from Aberystwyth to other more populous places, but that is often conveniently ignored). The increasing availability of electronic services offers, therefore, a significant challenge to the library to become immediately available to readers all over the world, a challenge which has been embraced with enthusiasm. Already a high proportion (some 60-70 per cent) of enquiries which reach the library's reader services arrive via e-mail from all parts of the world, and are responded to electronically. The library's current corporate plan projects the image of "digital library, open library", with the latter thrust concentrating on developing services and improving facilities for visitors, while the former emphasises continued growth in the sphere of digital collections.

The library, like many legal deposit libraries, has traditionally been viewed as a "library of last resort", and traffic in interlending has tended to be on a small scale. Journal articles have been copied within the terms of copyright legislation for purposes of research or private study, and the implications of the European Copyright Directive for commercial copying will be carefully noted. Many requests for private study copies are received electronically, by e-mail rather than by means of a formal ordering system, but copies are normally supplied on paper. It is not deemed appropriate to scan and transmit documents by digital means without better safeguards against possible redistribution. The library is, however, considering its position in relation to some of the electronic document supply services which currently exist, with a view to perhaps making material more widely available, particularly for the benefit of libraries in Wales. It is almost inevitable that within the next few years we will be drawn more extensively into digital document supply, always provided that the rights of copyright owners can be protected.

The library has had a system of self-service copying in place for some years, but does not currently permit the use of digital scanners by readers. It may be appropriate to review this policy in order to enable copying for research, again subject to the necessary safeguards.

An extensive digitisation programme has in recent years seen a number of major collections made available via the Web site. The library is unusual in the wide range of its collections, which encompass manuscripts, pictures, photographs and sound and moving image material as well as printed items; and much of the digitisation programme has concentrated until now on visual rather than printed sources. It is intended, however, to digitise some Welsh printed sources which are out of copyright and so begin the building of a virtual library of texts which are not likely to be made available through any other source. One interesting project currently under way is the digitisation of Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig (The Dictionary of Welsh Biography), undertaken with the full support of the work's original publishers, the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. This will aim to make available the text of a major Welsh reference work in a searchable, digital form which may subsequently be enhanced by the addition of, say, appropriate illustrative material. It is one way in which the National Library can contribute to the increasing variety of documentation available on the World Wide Web.

Rhidian GriffithsNational Library of Wales