THE BRITISH LIBRARY AND THE FUTURE OF INTERLIBRARY LENDING

Abstract

An account of developments in the BLLD's services in the last two or three years, with a review of the present situation. BLLD is now handling an estimated three‐quarters of all inter/ending requests originating in the UK, and an increasing volume of overseas demand. The acquisition policy of the BLLD, the rationale behind a central loan collection, and the satisfaction rate achieved by it (currently 84%) are stated. The main recent improvements have been in dealing with items not in BLLD's stock. These include microfilming of catalogues of selected libraries; special arrangements with several major libraries (including the copyright libraries) and important special libraries to serve as immediate back‐ups; photocopying of serials in the BL Reference Division; ISBN recording by the regions; and the rationalisation of author‐title union catalogues. A comprehensive acquisition programme has just been initiated for individual music scores. Matters to be further studied include the loan provision of fiction and non‐book materials, international lending, methods of transmitting requests, the possibility of a national van network, and the effect of BLLD photocopying on journal sales. A continued rapid growth in demand on the BLLD can be expected. The implications of recent developments for the regions will need to be kept under review.