Clare Bainbridge wrote:
> 2. What is a community anyway? Many of my ILL requests come from
> academic staff who are working on what may be shortlived research projects,
> perhaps a year or two. They may even be working on proposals for projects
> that don't come to fruition. What they need (they are engineers) is usually very
> specific stuff which other members even of their faculty may not find of interest. I
> can't buy expensive materials on that basis - and think I'd be wrong to do so.
I think this is a valid point about collection policies - they don't
tend to cater for "minority" interests. When I worked in the library of
an electricity company, a lot of those making most use of ILLs were
those undertaking further education (MBAs and the like) sponsored by the
company - they were often looking at specialist areas for projects. The
library can't really turn round in those circumstances and refuse them
services because their needs aren't "central". In the same way, most
organisations have specialist staff who aren't involved in the
organisation's "core area", but still have legitimate information needs
(e.g. the electricity company had economists, lawyers,
environmentalists, occupational health experts etc). ILLs are often the
most effective way of providing access to books they will need.
I also remain to be convinced about the improved speed of internet-based
bookshops. They can probably carry a wider stock than conventional
bookshops, but there are still a large number of titles they won't hold.
Then they're back at the mercy of how quickly publishers will supply
them and unless they've found a better hold over them than normal
bookshops, that's where the delay comes in. Any good bookshop has always
been able to supply (in theory) any book in print: the massive delays
that can occur are normally with publishers and distributers. I'd take
any suggestions that books out of stock can necessarily be supplied by
the internet bookshops within a few days with a large pinch of salt.
Rachel Stone
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(These views are my own and not the Department of Health's)
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