MINIMUM COST DOCUMENT REPRODUCTION IN LARGE LENDING LIBRARIES

• Published in: Journal of documentation 1959-02, Vol.15 (2), p.93-99
• Main Author: HILL, E.G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0022-0418; 1758-7379
• DOI: 10.1108/eb026271

During this century the library's need for low unit cost single-copy reproduction has been growing more acute. That a scientific library tends to double in size every sixteen years is undoubtedly an overworked and misleading statement. That it probably describes the retrospective position with some accuracy need not be disputed. But what of the future? If the anticipated rapid industrialization of the eastern quarter of the world takes place, libraries may soon have to think in terms of doubling themselves every ten years or even more frequently. Many of the smaller libraries may well find this impossible. They will be forced towards greater and greater specialization, and consequently will tend to hold a smaller and smaller proportion of the world's scientific literature in their fields. As a direct result of this their loan demands on other libraries, and particularly on national libraries, will tend to increase. Traditionally, interlibrary lending has involved the transference of valuable and often weighty original material between libraries. Such a time-honoured procedure certainly works, but it is an expensive business.