THOUGHTS ON INTERLIBRARY LENDING

A phenomenon, most challenging and, at the same time, most gratifying for every librarian, is the determined trend toward total bibliographical control. In particular, in the field of applied science, these efforts are mirrored in a considerable literature, which in heterogenous subject fields show many parallelisms of thought and method toward the ultimate aim: to bring together all available information on a certain subject to the person interested, in the shortest possible time and at the lowest possible cost. It stands to reason that in these times of rapidly expanding knowledge not one library or centre of information can reasonably be expected to contain and make available all published material even in a segment of applied science, as, e.g., aeronautics. The amount of material is too large, and its increase in seemingly more than geometric proportions precludes its purposeful handling by one single centre and renders the cost of operation irrational. On the other hand, well planned and carefully organized co‐operation between libraries which hold special material and are expertly staffed in the special areas will come closest to the realization of ideal bibliographic control.