Charging users for interlibrary loans in UK university libraries ‐ a new survey

This survey is a follow‐up to one undertaken in 1994. The aim was to discover latest library practice regarding charging and other related issues for interlibrary loans in UK university libraries. Of the 325 questionnaires sent, 170 (52 per cent) responded and of those, 120 libraries (70 per cent) provided an ILL service. A total of 117 libraries from 120 gave details on their ILL charging policy, with 76 libraries from the 117 (65 per cent) charging and a small number regulating ILLs on a quota system. Only a handful of libraries which currently do not charge have plans to or are considering doing so in the near future. The most popular charges made to groups of users were £1 per request to students and staff and £7‐£10 to externals. Where a flat rate per request was in operation, the most common charges were £5, £1 and £2, respectively. The use of electronic sources is playing an increasingly important role in document delivery, with bibliographical databases encouraging demand for requests, full‐text databases (especially in particular subject areas such as business information) allowing access to articles from journal titles to which the library does not subscribe and the use of electronic documents also for items not held locally.