Library customer service in an Italian university library: from ILL to circulation and back

This paper aims to describe the changes taking place at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, after the introduction of a new automated system, and to propose the integration of the work of the Document Supply (DS) and the Circulation Departments with radical changes in the job descriptions of both.

The paper is descriptive in nature.

Automation has led to process changes but not yet to the staffing changes that have become possible.

The paper shows how one university is responding to the changes that are taking place technologically and particularly in relation to document supply librarians and staff in the service areas of the main library.