The Use of Telefacsimile in Libraries
| Pages | 33-42 |
| Published date | 01 January 1987 |
| Date | 01 January 1987 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb047676 |
| Author | Richard W. Boss,Hal Espo |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
The Use of Telefacsimile in Libraries
Richard W. Boss and Hal Espo
Telefacsimile, the technology that
facilitates the fast electronic transfer
of written materials between distant points,
is beginning to make inroads in the library
community. There are now more than five
hundred telefacsimile machines installed
in North American libraries, and more than
a dozen machines are being installed each
month. The recent history of facsimile
use in libraries is discussed. Also
detailed are the three major issues to be
addressed in deciding on the adoption of
telefacsimile to improve document delivery:
need, copy quality, and costs.
Telefacsimile, the technology that facilitates
the fast electronic transfer of written materials
between distant points, is beginning to make inroads
in the library community. There are now more
than five hundred telefacsimile machines installed
in North American libraries, and more than a dozen
machines are being installed each month.
THE HISTORY OF TELEFACSIMILE
IN LIBRARIES
Librarians began experimenting with the tech-
nology in the 1960s, using it mainly for the rapid
transfer of interlibrary loan requests and brief
journal articles. The early experiments used analog
machines that required four to six minutes to transmit
a page of text. Most reactions to this process
were negative. Telefacsimile was considered to
be inadequate not only because of the slow transmis-
sion rate, but also because the equipment was expen-
sive and unreliable, produced copies of low quality,
and was not serviced by its manufacturers. The
apparent absence of a real demand for rapid access
to library materials was another reason not to buy
facsimile in the early years. In some cases, the
use of facsimile did not reduce the time required
to deliver material to an end-user, because facsimile
was only one link in an extended communications
chain. Often, people requested and received copies
by mail or surface delivery service.
While some of the libraries that participated
in telefacsimile networks used them to transfer
printed documents in response to interlibrary loan
requests, most employed the technology only for
Boss and Espo are Senior Consultants with
Information Systems Consultants, Inc. of Bethesda,
MD.
ISSUE 17 33
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