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Discusses the importance of standards in interlending. Describes some attempts to improve access to publications. Highlights ventures in commercial document delivery and also conflicts between electronic publishing and copyright. Gives details of interlending activities in the audiovisual field and at a national level. Summarizes some surveys on interlending. Describes developments in academic libraries as well as views on resource sharing, advances in electronic document delivery and networking, along with forecasts for the future.

Surveys efforts towards co‐operation in interlending within countries including Hungary, Italy, Nigeria, Ghana, Germany and Latvia. Discusses barriers to European interlending and a formula for the size of the European interlending market is given. Interlending protocol and advances in facsimile transmission are described. A methodology of estimating interlending costs, DOCMATCH II, is introduced.

Interlending activities in various countries, particularly in academic libraries, are examined. The growth of networking and the importance of a strong infrastructure are discussed. A system of cost recovery for large net‐lenders is outlined. Developments in copyright are reviewed.

Overviews recent statistical analyses in the field of interlending and document supply. Examines statistics from studies performed in Spain, South Africa, the Middle East, and the USA. Notes the significant impact of DOCLINE, the US National Library of Medicine′s automated interlibrary lending (ILL) request and routing system. Reviews the feasibility study for a pilot European interlending system. Looks at the issue of copyright. Provides examples of decentralised ILL systems found in Australia and South Africa.

Discusses organisation, automation and performance measurement aspects of interlibrary loan department management, and developments in charging for and the preservation of ILL items. Highlights the problems of ILL in developing countries, and changes and developments in the rest of the world. Considers electronic document delivery systems, the effect of technological advances on libraries and the “Burgundy effect”.

Describes a number of experiments with electronic document delivery, and the copyright problems that are affecting its use. Considers the inadequacies of interlending for the user, the interlending in Eastern Europe and Australia. Outlines the impact of CD‐ROM on document supply and suggests that interlending can be a social, cultural and economic measure.

Discusses the arguments for and against the trend of charging for interlibrary loans. Considers the costs of interlending, sources of information, the charging situation in the United Kingdom, Europe, former USSR, USA and Canada, and Australia, as well as the reasons for not charging: transaction size, political reasons, income retention/use and moral objection. Concludes that the trend towards charging is likely to widen the gap between those who can afford to pay for documents and those who can′t, to the detriment of library co‐operation.

Describes some national developments in the interlibrary loans field and various tools of the trade. Highlights relevant case studies and surveys along with examples of co‐operation, at various levels. Discusses more contributions to the Access versus Ownership issue and outlines some articles on commercial document delivery. Discusses technological developments concerning electronic journals and the Internet and discusses copyright problems.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

Reports on two recent surveys carried out by the IFLA Office for International Lending. The first, in 1991, showed fiction to be the poor relation in interlending. Reasons for this include slight demand, poor representation in union catalogues and the association of fiction with “frivolous” leisure reading. Nothing seems to be known about the nature of demand for fiction, some of which may be for serious research. There are several possible systems for access to, and the supply of, fiction for interlending. The second survey, in 1993, revealed that the great majority of countries have no policy on the interlending of fiction. Ideas on a policy were invited though some thought that no separate policy was needed. Recommends that any country trying to develop a policy should go about it in a systematic manner, starting with the collection of information on the acquisition of fiction and its use, and working out a policy in the light of relevant national legislation and practices and in consultation with participating libraries. Although most libraries responding to the survey thought that all fiction should be made available for interlending, the question of what, if any, restrictions should be imposed is a key area for consideration.