ILL ICT Solutions in Germany - Cooperation by Networking

Abstract

Interlibrary loan (ILL) has a long and valid tradition in Germany as many libraries suffered severely by loss of materials due to the consequences of WWII. Ever since, libraries cooperated by negotiating ILL routing mechanisms using Union Catalogues as hubs to fulfill the enormous demands of their patrons. Since these Union Catalogues have been retro-converted into machine readable formats in the past decade, it was reasonable to use these data resources for an user friendly ILL service integrated into existing Digital Library infrastructures in Germany. The automated interlibrary loan network was born. The presentation will cover technical aspects and solutions, networking of existing regional networks into one nation-wide ILL service, and last not least regulations and financial affairs.