Library cooperation in Turkey: the results of a survey of ILL librarians in higher education

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate library cooperation among the libraries of Turkish higher education institutions in the changing global environment. Design/methodology/approach This study has been carried out with ILL librarians working in state and foundation university libraries in Turkey. The survey was sent to 140 inter library loan (ILL) librarians who were asked to answer 35 questions both open and closed. There were 100 responses which is an excellent response rate of 72 per cent. It was conducted with VETI (Data Collection and Statistics), which is a web-based form application developed by Istanbul Technical University. Findings Turkish libraries are taking the opportunities offered by technical developments to serve their users with instant information by providing access to electronic resources and transferring their collections to electronic media. Reconstruction of ILL services to fulfill users’ needs is inevitable because of the increasing expectations of users and emerging alternatives to access information. Originality/value This is the first systematic national investigation into the state of ILL in Turkish libraries.