Clare
> 1) My book budget is limited and I shouldn't be
>using it to provide material that one person may need once.
My view is that a library is there to serve a "community". A book that
serves one person only does not do that. It is up to the individual to buy
the book themselves or via their own source of funds rather than that of
the library.
>2) My
>library's space is limited and I shouldn't clutter up the shelves
>with books which one person may need once.
Agree. So are your staff resources limited.
3) The BLDSC is funded
>(though not well enough I admit) to offer this service, and
>publishers are required to supply them with deposit copies for
>the purpose.
Deposit copies serve other needs as well. I don't think publishers would
agree that a desirable purpose of deposit copies was to eliminate sales by
making access to the book freely available to all via an ILL system
regarless of the purposed of the library making the request.
>I don't see that the availability of book ordering over the WWW
>really affects the way we should think about ILLs.
The book is available at a much lower price (~40% off retail) so becomes
more attractive and available to the user.
The delivery time is much faster and in many parts of the world faster than
could be expected via ILL. I realise that this might not be the case in
the UK with you excellent library resources and small distances compared
with Australia.
In short the availability of books via booksellers has improved greatly at
the same time the ability of libraries is reduced by shrinking budgets to
provide ILL services. There needs to be a trade off.
Tony
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