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The purpose of this paper is to report on the surveys, carried out during 2011 and 2013, regarding the functionality of and possible improvements to Italy’s nationwide resource sharing service NILDE (Network for Inter-Library Document Exchange).

The methodology comprises both an analysis of quantitative data about ILL transactions initiated during a 2011 study and a qualitative assessment of the system based on information obtained from the surveys and a SWOT analysis. This proved to be an effective methodology, and a new survey was launched in 2013 to verify whether the choices made and the projects undertaken were in line with user expectations.

The results turned out to be particularly interesting and a source of hints for planning future improvements.

Italian studies for assessing user satisfaction of library services, based on user surveys, often relate to a single library or a single University. The NILDE survey was delivered nationwide to all the registered users of NILDE. This is the most extensive survey for the number of libraries and the various types of end users involved.

This paper aims to describe the state of the art of the Italian Archivio Licenze Periodici Elettronici (ALPE) project which aims to improve the understanding of the issues raised by licence agreements of electronic resources in the Inter-Library Loan Service and to support librarians in the implementation of the right policies.

ALPE – (E-Journals Licenses Archive) is a national archive of interlibrary loan (ILL) clauses, extracted from standard and negotiated licences, to manage, to publicly share and to check the permitted uses of e-resources for ILL and document delivery.

The ALPE archive facilitates public and free access to a remarkable amount of information and data about ILL conditions granted by the most important commercial and academic publishers, and responds to the practical problems of managing and understanding ILL clauses in e-licences.

The solutions adopted by ALPE effectively solve many of the problems reported in the literature. These should help ILL librarians in dealing with the problems associated with ILL and licensing.

This paper presents the most recent progress and implementation of the Network Inter‐Library Document Exchange (NILDE) system, a web based document delivery (DD) software for libraries and end‐users. NILDE allows libraries to manage the entire workflow of DD activities, both borrowing and lending, through the provision of synthetic and analytical statistics, DD performance indicators such as “fill‐rate” and “turn‐around time”, and support for secure electronic delivery. New technologies, referred to as Web 2.0, have been incorporated into NILDE, making it an even more user‐oriented and friendly tool for document delivery and scholar work.

The paper presents the key factors that have made NILDE a successful tool and a “de facto” standard for document delivery among Italian libraries: the policies, i.e. the rules the community has imposed on itself, and the processes, i.e. the procedures through which the libraries provide DD services using NILDE.

The rise in NILDE users has allowed the building of a cooperative network to promote resource sharing based on a degree of standard quality of service and fair behaviour. It was found how, by adhering to these principles, libraries start up a virtuous cycle within the NILDE network, increasing its own value.

The paper will be of interest to librarians wanting to start a successful cooperative network and all those with an interest in developments in resource sharing in Italy.

The purpose of this paper is to present new concepts and features introduced in NILDE 4.0, an online ILL and document supply request system designed for and used by more than 700 Italian libraries and research institutions.

The authors use a case study approach based on their professional experience at the NILDE Administrator library, the CNR Research Area Library of Bologna.

New concepts and features include, among others, a multilingual user interface, a Z39.50 link to national catalogues and union catalogues, a ranking algorithm to assist libraries in balancing their ILL borrowing and lending volumes with partner libraries, a single sign-on user authentication and authorisation system, and a bibliographic citation management system. Future development plans include the ability to create library groups; although this functionality is already built into the new system architecture, it has not yet been implemented by the community.

The authors have published previously on earlier versions of the NILDE software; this paper presents an overview of the recently released version 4.0.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the relationship between ILL/document supply and journal subscriptions and to assess recent trends in the ILL service.

This survey is based on data from the ILL service conducted over the five‐year period 2005‐2009 through the Italian Network for Inter‐Library Document Exchange (NILDE).

This paper bears out important previous findings that ILL is not used as a surrogate for journal subscriptions. This is supported by the analysis of a broad number of titles and over a wide time‐range. On the contrary, analysis of data transactions, particularly of the most requested journals, can bring about positive effects on new title acquisitions and negotiations with publishers. This paper also shows, at least for Italy, an overall growth and vitality of ILL, in spite of the widespread availability of e‐journals acquired through consortia purchasing.

The paper presents an insight into the relationship between ILL and journal subscriptions in Italy, a country where few studies have been carried out, and none at all for such a large number of libraries and transactions.

Presents a summary of the latest in the series of international conferences on interlending and document supply. Whilst co‐operation between researchers, publishers and librarians was the main theme of the Conference, other topics discussed included union catalogues, standards, digitisation and national systems.

This paper seeks to provide an overview of recent developments within the British Library's document supply service and offer an insight into future plans.

The paper takes the form of a general review.

The British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC) has made tremendous gains in optimising the service in its current guise. As with similar organisations, challenges are presenting themselves that require a completely new look at the way the business model is designed. Although the long‐term plan is not completely formed, this paper aims to give an insight into current thinking.

The paper spells out the improvement strategy that the BL has adopted for document supply in the light of the worldwide decline.