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The OCLC Interlibrary Loan Subsystem became available for use 1 April 1979. The advantages and disadvantages of the ILL Subsystem are examined, as well as the composition and use of the OCLC on‐line union catalogue. Library staffing has had to change because of the way some tasks are now accomplished. Library patrons expect and receive better service. OCLC is conspicuously successful in helping libraries to cope with ever‐increasing numbers of interlibrary loan requests.

The rapid growth of interlibrary loans in recent years has forced us to take a hard look at the practical and financial aspects of what we once thought of as a simple barter system. One good turn (the loan of a book) deserves another. The concepts of “reciprocal borrowing: and “resource sharing” are yielding to accounting principles and business processes. Charging for loans is becoming an acceptable practice. Which leads to the question, where did we get the idea that loans should be free in the first place? Early proponents of interlibrary loans in the USA did not shrink from the idea of charging but were stymied by the mechanics of collecting and distributing money. Our moral reluctance to charge is a relatively recent and perhaps transitory phenomenon. Bibliographic utilities have resolved many of the accounting problems. In the light of history, the decision to charge has more to do with mechanics than morality.

This article applies the economic model of interlibrary loan and library journal subscriptions developed by Kingma in 1996 to data from the Library for Natural Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences. The model shows whether a library journal subscription or providing access to journal articles by interlibrary loan is more cost‐effective. The cost of international interlibrary loan including document delivery and the journal subscription policies to foreign periodicals existing in a large academic library in Russia are examined. Results are similar to the results found in the Kingma study of the Library Centres for the State University of New York. The most cost‐effective way to provide access to scientific journal articles within Russia is to provide additional funding for international interlibrary loan rather than increasing the number of journal subscriptions.

The article considers the status of interlibrary co‐operation in Japan in terms of its historical development and future needs. The number of libraries has doubled in the last twenty years. The identification and location of bibliographic information is seen as a particular problem: available tools are discussed and future developments considered. Statistical and background information is provided for a variety of library types: university, public, special, and the major library networks. Special attention is paid to the National Diet Library where a Library Co‐operation Department is seen as addressing some of the major problems. The view of the library in Japan as being an isolated unit with services available to a select group of patrons, is changing, the slow development of interlibrary co‐operation giving way to a growing awareness of the need for increased diffusion and availability of information.

This essay could begin with a discussion of interlibrary loan procedures before the existence of OCLC, but it seems preferable not to recount the miseries of the Dark Ages. Beginning with a discussion of the use of OCLC by interlibrary loan staff before the availability of the Interlibrary Loan Subsystem should provide enough history. The background material is followed by an explanation of the methodology of requesting material by means of the Interlibrary Loan Subsystem. Perceived problems with the use of the subsystem, suggestions regarding the source of those problems, and possible solutions form the remainder of the paper.

Cranfield Institute of Technology has completed the testing of an interlibrary loans module from SLS (Information Systems) Ltd. which forms part of the LIBERTAS integrated library system. This is significant in that it is one of very few integrated interlibrary loans facilities. The basic aim of this article is to describe the workings of the module in general terms and to discuss some of the implications for libraries. It describes the main problems, both in the installation and in the system itself, and the main advantages, specifically the addition of increased numbers of access points, the loan analyses available, the chasing regimes for lenders and the overall saving of staff time.

In the fall of 1982 the RLIN (Research Libraries Information Network) computer system, which serves the Research Libraries Group (RLG) incorporated a new interlibrary loan subsystem which has the potential to facilitate fast and efficient interlibrary loans among members of RLG. At present, RLG consists of 24 general or fully participating members — all of which are major research libraries including the New York Public Library — and 13 special libraries such as the Museum of Modern Art. As one of its primary functions, RLG maintains a benignly liberal interlibrary loan policy for general member institutions. Not only will these members lend the same materials as they circulate to their own patrons; in many cases such normally forbidden interlibrary loan items as rare books and reference books may be lent (providing of course the lender is agreeable). And, of special importance to library patrons, photocopying, in most cases, is provided free of charge as long as the request is reasonable and within copyright restrictions. It must be stressed however that each member library is still responsible for maintaining a collection commensurate with the needs of its patrons. Thus, RLG is not meant to be a substitute for collection development of any member institution but rather to expand the availability of materials to libraries within the system.

To report and analyze transaction data over a four‐year period for patron‐initiated borrowing via the Cascade union catalog as well as transaction data for traditional ILL in a consortium of six academic libraries in Washington State.

Transaction data for patron‐initiated borrowing via the Cascade union catalog were gathered from statistics produced by the Inn‐Reach software. Data for ILL were collected via a survey of libraries’ staff. Data for returnables and copies were analyzed at the consortium and institutional level.

In the third year of patron‐initiated borrowing, traditional ILL transactions for returnables had decreased 21 per cent consortium‐wide, the total number of transactions for returnables had increased 271.9 per cent, and the transactions for copies remained steady. Although the borrowing and lending patterns at the six libraries varied, each loaned and borrowed more returnables via patron‐initiated borrowing than via traditional ILL.

This study describes activity at a single consortium of only six libraries. Since the Cascade libraries have now merged into a larger consortium, the Orbis Cascade Alliance, it would be interesting to collect and analyze new data from the larger group to see if patterns have changed.

The increased volume of returnables delivered to users in this consortium suggests that patron‐initiated borrowing is an effective method for resource sharing. Traditional ILL remains a necessary alternative for copies and books not available within the consortium.

This is the first study to examine consortium‐wide transaction data for both patron‐initiated borrowing and traditional interlibrary loan for a sustained period of time.

This study aims to evaluate the current situation of the interlibrary loan in Türkiye using interlibrary loan tracking system raw data (2008–2019). Data was analyzed geographically to reveal the effect of geographical distance on the collaboration and thematically to identify the prominent areas/topics in the requests. In addition, the requests were evaluated in terms of the type and age of the university, the size of the collection and the number of library users.

The effect of geographical distance on the collaboration was revealed using VOSviewer. The place numbers and titles of the requests were used for thematic analysis, which was performed using Flourish and VOSviewer. Statistical tests were conducted with SPSS to investigate the effects of factors such as university age and type.

Geographic analysis revealed that the prominent regions are Marmara, Central Anatolia and Aegean Regions, respectively. The fact that these regions host Türkiye’s largest cities with the highest number of universities has been effective in achieving this result. The results of the thematic analysis are in accordance with the literature. Almost half of the requests are from Social Sciences, Language and Literature, History and Law. While the effects of collection size and the number of library users have relatively insignificant effects on requests, age and university type were found to be more relevant.

Interlibrary loan data of this size has not been the subject of an evaluation before in Türkiye. Hence, the results obtained have the potential to influence relevant policies and decisions on the subject. On the other hand, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, bibliographic mapping was used for the first time on interlibrary loan data.