The University of California Libraries: A Plan for Development (1977)

96 The University of California Libraries
Because of the imbalance and cost, the system is becoming less
and less effective. As pointed out in Chapter III, the large libraries
are expected to provide the service without compensation,
regardless of any imbalance, so there is no incentive to assign a high
priority to the activity. Efficiency in filling interlibrary loan
requests merely encourages more requests, until the increase in
workload causes the service to deteriorate to the point that requests
are again discouraged.
Filling free interlibrary loan requests has always been
treated by the large net lenders as a troublesome extra,
and this, along with the cumbersome nature of the decentralized
system, accounts to a large extent for the
relative slowness and inefficiency of this activity in
the U.S. 16
Not surprisingly, a few research libraries are beginning to charge for
the service. The effect is likely to increase the load even more on
those libraries which still provide the service free, and if for no
other reason than a defensive one the University of California libraries
should consider instituting such charges. Clearly, a national agreement
on a standardized fee is needed, but attempts by such organizations as
the Association of Research Libraries to devise a fee system have so
far been unsuccessful. If an increasing number of individual libraries
begin charging on their own, however, this may serve as a sufficient
goad to produce a national agreement.
Some kind of national system is clearly needed, because no library,
nor even a system such as proposed for the University of California,
can expect to meet all of the legitimate library needs of its users.
In economic terms a national system is also desirable, because as
Williams' study has pointed out, "it is apparent that for every publication
there is some frequency of use at which it becomes cheaper
for the library to borrow, or photocopy, it from another institution
than to acquire and maintain its own copy." 17
16 De Gennaro, "Austerity, Technology, and Resource Sharing: Research
Libraries Face the Future," Library Journal, v. 100 (May 15, 1976),
pp. 921-922.
17 Gordon Williams and others, Library Cost Models: Owning Versus
Borrowing Serial Publications, Office of Science Information
Service, 1968, p. 1.