An overview of electronic document request and delivery research

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/eb045507
Published date01 May 1996
Date01 May 1996
Pages435-448
AuthorSandra P. Price,Anne Morris,J. Eric Davies
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management,Library & information science
Article
An overview of electronic document
request and delivery research
Sandra P. Price, Anne Morris
and
J.
Eric Davies
Loughborough
University,
Loughborough,
Leicestershire LE11
3TU,
UK.
Abstract: This paper presents an overview of past and present research
projects associated with electronic document
delivery.
The paper briefly outlines
the
Follet Report and introduces the UK's Electronics Libraries Programme,
including
the
recently funded Focused Investigation of Document Delivery
(FIDDO) project at Loughborough
University.
Four research areas have been
identified as follows: resource sharing projects; network communication
projects; electronic scanning projects and electronic document delivery systems.
Conclusions highlight the major impact that technological developments are
currently having on this
area,
the need for librarians to reassess their role in the
information
chain,
and the need for delivery systems capable of handling different
formats and a wider coverage of material
to
satisfy requests.
1.
Introduction
The last five years have seen signifi-
cant changes in the UK higher educa-
tion sector. The university sector has
been expanded considerably with the
inclusion of institutions in the former
polytechnic sector. There has been a
substantial growth in student numbers
combined with developments in fund-
ing, information technology (IT) and
teaching and learning techniques.
There are a number of different
teaching initiatives that are also having
an impact on library services: for in-
stance distance and flexible learning
techniques require different types of
support to traditional services cur-
rently being offered to students. There
have also been significant increases in
both the part-time and mature student
populations entering higher education.
Resource scarcity has been a con-
tinuing issue and the last UK budget
measures created further financial
dif-
ficulties, resulting in an average 5%
funding loss across the university sec-
tor in real terms (Tysome 1996). As a
consequence, universities are having
to examine their activities, reduce
costs and improve efficiency signifi-
cantly. The enlargement of the univer-
sity sector has not been accompanied
by an appropriate increase in funding
to develop resources for research and
teaching adequately. In terms of li-
brary and information provision many
institutions are having to develop serv-
ices,
collections and access from a
modest base provision. Despite the
large rise in student numbers, many
academic libraries will have to operate
without any increase in overall budget
over the next few years. Given the un-
avoidable rise in recurrent costs, such
as staffing, there will be considerable
pressure placed upon libraries to re-
duce their materials budgets.
Recent developments in IT have
had a major impact upon libraries and
the services they support. Libraries
have had the opportunity
to
automate a
large proportion of their housekeeping
routines, creating greater access to
management information relating to
the performance of various library ac-
tivities and services. In addition the
technology has presented several chal-
lenges: for example the advent of
CDROM technology has provided
electronic access to a wide range of in-
formation resources, and more recent
technology has provided access to re-
sources through a variety of electronic
media. The popularity of these new
electronic services has been immense,
but at the same time libraries are in-
creasingly struggling to find funds
either to maintain existing services or
invest in new services and equipment.
Assimilating new technology in the
successful development of informa-
tion resource access for learners and
researchers presents a formidable ar-
ray of strategic and operational issues.
Harer (1992) discussed a three
component process referred to as the
'Information Cycle Network' which
comprises: the identification of a
source/information; the access and lo-
cation of the material; and finally the
delivery of the information. In an ideal
world, the end-user should be able to
perform all of these functions from a
single workstation. This paper aims to
provide an overview of recent elec-
tronic document delivery projects that
are developing systems in order to
make this ideal possible. It also pro-
vides an insight into the different ap-
proaches that are being researched,
and some of the successful services
that have already been developed.
Some projects, for instance those
funded by the Electronic Libraries
Programme (eLib), are at a very early
stage in their development. This paper
is further supported by a second paper
reviewing commercial electronic
document delivery services (Price et
al. 1996).
The Electronic Library, Vol. 14, No. 5, October 1996 435

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT