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Describes the NISO circulation interchange protocol (NCIP) and some of the design decisions that were made in developing it. When designing a protocol of the scale and scope of NCIP, certain decisions about what technologies to employ need to be made. Often there are multiple competing technologies that can be employed to accomplish the same functionality, and there are both positive and negative reasons for the choice of any particular one. Focuses specifically on the areas on which the protocol would be supported. Gives particular emphasis to the decision to choose XML as the encoding technology for the protocol messages. One of the main design goals for NCIP was to try to strike the appropriate balance between ease of implementation and providing appropriate functionality. This functionality includes that needed to support both application areas that the committee could anticipate would use the protocol in the short term, and new applications that might be developed in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to present the software architecture of the university’s union catalogue in Novi Sad, Serbia. The university’s union catalogue would comprise the collections of 14 academic libraries.

The basis of this paper is a case study of developing a software solution for the union catalogue of the University of Novi Sad in Serbia. The solution principles of object-oriented modelling are applied to describe the software architecture. Specifically, the unified modeling language (UML) component and sequence diagrams are used. The database model is described by using a physical data model.

Through the research of related papers and, taking into consideration the problem of creating a university union catalogue, it is concluded that the best approach is to combine the idea of a virtual and a physical union catalogue. Records are stored in one physical union catalogue, while the holdings data are stored in the local library management systems (LMSs) organized in the form of virtual union catalogues. Because academic libraries often use LMSs from different vendors, interoperable communication between those LMSs and the union catalogue is provided through the usage of standard library protocols for information retrieval (Search and Retrieve URL [SRU], SRU Record Update and NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol [NCIP]).

The development of a union catalogue for the University of Novi Sad is in its test phase, and, at this moment, only a software solution supporting the functionalities of a union catalogue has been created.

By introducing a university union catalogue, students would be able to search the collections of all the university libraries by using a single portal. Their results would indicate whether a book is available and from which library it is available to borrow.

Originality of this software architecture lies in the usage of standard library protocols. The described architecture enables the addition of new members to the university union catalogue, regardless of which LMS the library uses.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the use of web services to transmit requests and documents in the interlibrary loan (ILL) services of Spanish universities.

The paper describes the problems involved in the use of email for communication between ILL services and presents a solution based on SOAP/XML technologies using standard protocols such as ISO 10160/10161, the OpenURL protocol and the NISO circulation interchange protocol (NCIP).

The solution presented provides real data on ILL transactions and on the use of options for communication between services, and will be used to further develop the gathering of statistical data on the service.

This technology provides instant confirmation of receipt of messages, eliminating the uncertainty of using email. It also synchronizes the status of requests between the requesting and supplying institutions at all times.

Although the use of web services in ILL transactions is suggested in the NCIP, their practical application has been limited and isolated. This paper describes their implementation in Spain in practically all university libraries, the National Library and many medical libraries.

The RLG (Research Libraries Group) conspectus was developed in 1980 by the Collection Management and Development Committee of the Research Libraries Group. The committee was comprised of one representative from each full and associate RLG member institution. David H. Stam served as Chairman of the committee and Paul Mosher served as Vice‐Chairman. Anticipating the challenges of acquisitions budgeting in a period of inflationary pricing for library materials, the committee worked to identify a methodology in which RLG member libraries could better coordinate the growth and management of their collections. The result was the development of the RLG conspectus.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of resource‐sharing trends in the USA and internationally.

The article uses personal experience and views supported with background literature.

The article highlights recent developments in resource‐sharing standards, updated resource‐sharing statistics, describes new initiatives, and explores the implications of recent corporate mergers and product withdrawals.

The article provides a high level, and personal view of selected trends in North American resource sharing.

China’s unprecedented emergence as an economic and political power has created a new geopolitical economy for semi-industrialised and developing economies in Southeast Asia. This paper examines China’s trade relationships with Thailand and Indonesia using the concepts of uneven and combined development (UCD) and unequal exchange. The mass of surplus value obtained through China’s trade with the developed economies has flowed into the considerable expansion in China’s imports from developing countries since 2000. China has maintained a consistent trade deficit with the latter. While the developing countries concerned have benefitted from this set of relationships, the extent to which they have done so has been determined by national strategies. In countries like Thailand – where manufacturing capital and a significant working class has emerged – exports expanded on the basis of mutually advantageous technologically and skills intensive goods. These are produced with a similar organic composition of capital as in China. The result has been a further consolidation of the hegemony of manufacturing capital. Indonesia, however, has a political system and economy long dominated by resource exploitation linked fractions of capital. The result has been a surge in primary goods exports. The current commodity price cycle has meant these goods exchange at prices above their value. The current looming price correction, however, may have negative repercussions. In the meantime, the concentration in raw materials exports is helping to prevent the emergence of a circuit of productive capital in manufacturing. The evidence from these contrasting cases suggests that the degree to which developing economies can benefit from China’s own historically unparalleled combined development remains highly contingent on the strength of the combined development possibilities and efforts within these other national social formations. Above all, there is the degree to which manufacturing sectors of capital can obtain hegemony.