Recent developments in remote document supply (RDS) in the UK – 2

Abstract

British Library to pull out of document supply You read it here first. Purely for the sake of artistic and dramatic licence I've omitted the question mark that should rightly accompany that heading. But even with the question mark firmly in place it still comes as a shock, doesn't it? Can you imagine life without the Document Supply Centre? Can you think the unthinkable? Why should the BL pull out and where would that leave RDS? Rather like a science fiction dystopia, I've tried to imagine what such a post-apocalyptic world would look like and what form RDS might take. Assuming, that is, that RDS would survive the fallout. This article will attempt to show why the BL may be on the verge of abandoning document supply and what could fill some of the huge gap that would be left.

Document supply of grey literature and open access: an update

“…Since 1998/1999 the British Library has experienced a significant decrease in remote document supply (RDS). Even if the exact number of requests is no longer published in the annual reports ("commercially sensitive", see Prowse, 2006), the decline can be estimated at 10 per cent per year. The face of document supply changed: "In 2002, over 50 per cent of material demanded was for papers published in the last two years.…”