Brief Communications

The National Central Library and later the National Lending Library for Science and Technology had always, as part of their services, provided libraries with locations or passed requests to possible sources when the items required were not in the stocks of these two institutions. These practices continued when the two libraries were amalgamated to form the Lending Division of the British Library in 1973; but it was known that several major libraries were not represented in the union catalogues and played little or no part in interlending, yet had resources which could supply many items that could not be obtained from other sources identified through union catalogues or by speculation. It was also known that several small, privately funded libraries with unique stocks, which had for many years co‐operated in the interlending system, were finding it increasingly difficult to justify a virtually free service to libraries at large whilst charging their own members for loans.