Electronic Document Delivery: A Survey of the Landscape and Horizon

Abstract

The authors examine, based on a survey of users, the electronic document delivery methods currently in place as well as changes in the recent past and future developments. Interlibrary loan and document delivery staff were surveyed from institutions across the United States in order to ascertain what document delivery mechanisms are currently in place, how they are being used, and why. Findings from this study should lead to an increased awareness of electronic delivery options in libraries across the country and elucidate the dynamics involved at individual sites. This, in turn, will assist librarians in making decisions, based not only on their individual circumstances, but on the experience and trends found across a broad sampling of institutions.

Optimizing Document Delivery at Simmons College Beatley Library

“…In specific case studies and user surveys, lack of customer support is frequently cited as detrimental to the library's use of the system (Benson, 2000;Hosburgh & Okamoto, 2010). The Infotrieve support website is out of date and many of the links are broken, making it difficult to find web-based help.…”

Interlending and document supply: a review of the recent literature: 73

“…It is interesting that “95 per cent of respondents use more than one delivery method” underlining the fact that “no single software meets all their document delivery needs. A very useful article for all those concerned with evaluating electronic document delivery methods” (Hosburgh and Okamoto, 2010).…”

Bringing the national interlending system into the local document supply process – a Swedish case study

“…Circulation is typically handled by the ILS. Many ILL management systems come with document delivery modules, but document delivery can also be handled by standalone products such as Ariel, Prospero and Odyssey (Weible, 2004), (Hosburgh and Okamoto, 2010). Document delivery software typically supports electronic delivery, but due to restrictions imposed by copyright law and license agreements for electronic media the library may still be obliged to transmit some documents on paper.…”