Resources Anytime, Anywhere

Book excerpt: University campuses and their academic libraries are increasingly interconnected. A major sign of this is the transformation of interlibrary loan into resource sharing. The emergence of resource sharing has brought with it new challenges for the university library. These challenges can be overcome, and the university library can emerge a stronger institution, more connected with the patrons and community it serves. To accomplish this transformation, libraries need to learn from the past in order to take a leading role in developing future technology to meet the needs of their patrons. Resources Anytime, Anywhere explores the transformation of interlibrary loan into resource sharing by looking at the ideas that have motivated the library-developed technologies that have changed the way resource sharing is conducted. Resources Anytime, Anywhere illustrates how academic libraries can take an active role in developing technology to meet the needs of their patrons. Through designing our own products and sharing them with other libraries, we can join the lessons of the past with the technology of today to create a more interconnected library that can meet the future needs of library patrons. - Describes the theoretical underpinnings of interlibrary loan - Explores how interlibrary loan has evolved to resource sharing - Presents new ways of organizing and developing resource sharing staff - Examines the technological developments within resources sharing - Reconsiders the idea of collaboration and cooperation among libraries - Considers new innovative technologies that can transform how resource sharing is conducted - Provides recommendation and future directions of how libraries can apply these methods at their institution