The interlibrary loan network in Greece: a model that survives in the digital era

Abstract

The structure, operation and development phases of the Hellenic Interlibrary Loan Network (HILL-net) are described and the pros and cons of the model, as well as the conclusions after nine years of operation are reported. The HILL-net has been the first systematic collaborative activity among Hellenic libraries. After the shift of most member libraries to the digital era, the HILL-net is coexisting, in a symbiotic and complementary way, with access to electronic journals. The network started its pilot operation in 1994, initially with six member-libraries. It currently consists of 127 member-libraries, located in Greece (including one in Cyprus). The network is based on a radial model with all peripheral libraries connected through the internet to a central Union Catalogue of Periodicals, installed on the server of the National Documentation Centre (NDC) in Athens. The system provides online search capabilities to the database of the Union Catalogue and offers facilities of online document ordering of articles included in the journal collections of the member libraries. Delivery of documents is carried out by the "supplier" libraries to "customer" libraries via ordinary mail or fax, and occasionally via e-mail. The clearance of transaction costs is carried out centrally by the NDC for all libraries, thus simplifying financial logistics. A migration of the system from a main-frame host computer system to a web based platform on Oracle environment took place in 1999.

A library management response model against the economic crisis

“…Furthermore, the results point out that, although the first steps can be made through an ISO 9001:2000 certification, further issues need to be addressed in order to seek the best solutions for quality management in academic libraries in Greece. These may include the cooperation and enhancement of the interlibrary loan network in Greece (Katsirikou, 2004;Tsimpoglou, 2004), the study of user patterns in digital services of academic libraries (Malliari et al, 2010) and the management of repositories and open access material (Georgiou and Papadatou, 2010), etc.…”

Exploring the Cost Effectiveness of Services in Academic Libraries: A Case Study with the Use of Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing

“…This service provides patrons with quick access to information whenever they need it. 38 As a result, accurate cost estimation is important because the operating costs of this service are high, and the requests are very timeconsuming to process. Furthermore, ILL is a service which requires experienced staff with high linguistic and digital skills.…”

Συνεργασίες Επιστημονικών Βιβλιοθηκών Σε Ψηφιακό Περιβάλλον

“…---, μτφρ. 1993-1996. μετάφραση (1) Πηγή: Tsimpoglou 2004) και ενημέρωση πιο πρόσφατων στοιχείων από ΕΚΤ / Δίκτυο Διαδανεισμού Ελληνικών Βιβλιοθηκών (1) Εκτίμηση. 1 9 9 5 1 9 9 6 1 9 9 7 1 9 9 8…”