THE ON‐LINE SYSTEM OF UNION CATALOGUES AND INTERLIBRARY LOAN IN THE NETHERLANDS

Abstract

Union catalogues form the main instrument of interlending in the Netherlands. The most important ones are maintained by the Royal Library in The Hague, the Technical University at Delft, and the Library of the Agricultural University at Wageningen. On‐line library automation will have an increasing impact on interlending, and the challenge is being met by these libraries by setting up an on‐line catalogue of serials, monographs and conference publications combined with an on‐line system for handling interlibrary loan requests developed by the Project for Integrated Catalogue Automation (PICA). The first phase — the serials system — came on‐line in May 1983, and it is hoped the monograph system will be in operation by early 1986.