College and Research Libraries BOOK REVIEWS Three Studies of Interlibrary Coopera- tion: Palmour, Vernon E.; Olson, Edwin E.; and Roderer, Nancy K. Metlwds of Financ- ing Interlibrary Loan Services. Washing- ton: Association of Research Libraries, 1974. Hayes, Robert M. A System for Inter-Li- brary Communication (SILC). Wash- ington: Association of Research Li- braries, 197 4. Palmour, Vernon E.; Bellassai, Marcia C.; and Gray, Lucy M. Access to Periodical Resources: A National Plan. Washing- ton: Association of Research Libraries, 1974. Rapid acceleration in the volume of in- terlibrary lending in the recent past, par- ticularly among academic libraries, has placed an undue burden on the major re- search libraries and has prompted the Asso- ciation of Research Libraries to sponsor a series of studies whose objectives were to define the problem and to recommend so- lutions to it. Three of these studies under review here are concerned with ( 1) financ- ing interlibrary loan in such a way that the libraries carrying a substantial ILL load would find some relief, ( 2) a program for improved access to periodicals, and ( 3) the need for and design of an interlibrary com- munication system. All three studies were supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The Hayes study was completed under contract with Becker and Hayes, Inc. The two other studies were contracted by Westat, Inc. All three are well-documented studies. Vernon E. Palmour, et al., in the study Methods of Financing Interlibrary Loan Services, examined means for improving the mechanics of the interlibrary loan process with particular emphasis on the develop- ment as quickly as possible of a fee struc- ture that would compensate net lenders. Net lenders are defined in this context as libraries that lend more items than they borrow. Attention was to focus on the dis- Recent Publications tribution of loans at the national level. Based on the findings of a previous study described by Palmour, et al., entitled A Study of the Characteristics, Costs and Magnitude of Interlibrary Loans in Aca- demic Libraries, the responses to a ques- tionnaire sent to directors and interlibrary loan librarians of 189 academic institutions, data on interlibrary loan activity available through other sources, and intensive study of lending patterns of seven libraries, the research staff concluded that cost of inter- library loan was an urgent problem. They proceeded to develop a series of alternative approaches and options for financing, fee structures, and management. The four al- ternatives for financing that emerge as vi- able at this time are charging net borrow- ers or all borrowers or subsidizing net lend- ers or all lenders. The fee system options that were considered were a uniform fixed fee which could be large enough to recover average costs of the lending library either in full or in part or a variable fee for each transaction determined by the lending li- brary. Methods of payment that were con- sidered workable were coupons delivered with the ILL requests, charges to credit card accounts, or billing by a central clear- ing house such as the System for Interli- brary Communication proposed by the Hayes study. Mter evaluating each of the options and the possible impact of their implementation, the staff recommended that a system of payment be instituted that would allow all participating libraries to re- cover partial cost for interlibrary loans. Coupons were recommended as the medi- um for payment. A basic assumption under- lying these recommendations was that the program could be implemented quickly and with few organizational problems. A system based on a central clearing house for all ILL communications including bill- ing similar to that proposed by Hayes in his study was viewed as superbly capable of meeting the requirements set forth in this study, but speed in implementation would be difficult. Palmour's staff contend that if SILC is adopted conversion of the I 457 458 I College & Research Libraries • November 1974 system of fee payment by coupon to the SILC method would be easy. Palmour was looking for solutions that could be implemented quickly; Hayes ad-. dressed himself to the various communica- tions problems that are inherent in the in- terlibrary loan process and explored ways of · using time-sharing computer systems to resolve some of ·them. The communication network that Hayes proposes would use the hardware and some software of an existing time-sharing system to facilitate the trans- mittal of interlibrary loan requests and oth- er ILL messages; to refer requests to bibli- ographic data centers for better citations than appear on the request forms and for location information; to serve as a clearing house for billing and payment of fees; to provide statistical reports on interlibrary loan traffic and workload; and to provide access to on-line data bases. Teletype ter- minals would be used to access the system. A major purpose of the Hayes study was to evaluate the technical, operational, man- agement, and economic feasibility of the proposed system. The evidence he has mar- shalled certainly supports his contentions that the "evaluations are essentially posi- tive . . . and the report recommends pro- ceeding further in development and pilot tests of the operation." Hayes has anticipat- ed the likely questions about the proposal and has countered them in turn. His argu- ments are convincing. One is led to conjec- ture, however, · about the implication of the adoption of the system. If TWX terminals are the means of access to the system, will small libraries be able to participate in it as fully as they would like? Will the pattern of interlibrary lending be changed by the system so that greater emphasis will be on local resources than now exists? Many li- braries now participate in one or more con- sortia, systems, councils, networks, etc., one of whose functions is to promote interli- brary lending within the group. Will SILC facilitate this interaction as Hayes suggests, or will it be just one more bureaucracy .for the ILL librarian to contend with? A pilot test of the system is recommended to get answers to these and other questions. A National Periodical Resources Center which would serve as the referral center for periodical requests which cannot be met through local resources is the recommenda- tion of Vernon Palmour, et al., in their study of access to periodical resources. The advantages of developing a new collection were weighed against supplementing an ex- isting collection to serve as the center. The proposal is based to a large degree on the organization and practices of the National Lending Library for Science and Technolo- gy of Great Britain ( NLL) before it be- came part of the British Library Lending Division ( BLL) . Palm our and his team contend that the critical need is for a new periodical collection. Does the merger of the NLL into BLL suggest a need here for a more comprehensive collection-one that could supply monographs as well as serials? If this question has any validity, then, would not an existing collection serve logi- cally as the resource center for both mono- graphs and periodicals? An essential ques- tion is: Would the recommendations of this study have been different if it had not been limited to periodical resources? Programs proposed in the SILC study and the Periodical Resources Center study require funding. Both studies recommend some form of federal subsidy as a means of support. What priorities are given to these programs? The entire library community must be involved in determining those pri- orities if available funds are to be used to maximum effectiveness.-Donald C. Cook, Assistant DirectC?r for Public Services, State University of New York at Stony Brook. Coodrum, Charles A. The Library of Con- gress. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1974. 292p. This book should not be viewed as an en- cyclopedic work, or "What you always wanted to know about the Library of Con- gress but didn't know whom to ask." It was written for the Praeger Library of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies se- ries; the author succeeds admirably in achieving his purpose of giving a general overview of the institution. The success is due to the author's writing ability and sense of humor. He is also very familiar with the library and very diplomatic. Because he knows his subject well and writes succinct- ly and lucidly, he has provided an excellent description of the library's history, organiza- tion, and functions for the nonlibrarian.