PLANNING INTERLENDING SYSTEMS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The following collection of papers begins with a statement of ideas and principles by Maurice Line and Sidney Smith, who between them have first‐hand knowledge of the library systems of several developing countries and have carried out intensive studies of document supply in a few. The statement represents their own views, which inevitably reflect their own background and experience in a highly centralised document service (the British Library Lending Division) in a country (the United Kingdom) that has reached a high level of library development. As a result, the authors may well have taken for granted some things that constitute real barriers in other countries — and possibly also over‐estimated some other aspects.