Document Delivery Service
David A. Baldwin, Paul D. Dickey · College & Research Libraries News · 1986
W h y document delivery?*The harried professor drew a large red circle around the citation.Right on the m ark, he thought.A colleague in Virginia had published the article, one very closely related to his own work.He looked at his w atch.An advisee was due in three minutes, his class in eighteen minutes, and no time to go to the library.Calmly, Professor Smith picked up his phone and called the Document Delivery phone number.At the tone, because Paul was mak ing prints from microfiche on another floor, Smith read his citation, gave his name and department, and hung up.The advisee rapped on his door.Turning off the microfiche reader/printer, Paul went back to his desk.After transcribing his phone messages and picking up more requests in the office mail, Paul set about organizing his day's work.First he went to the online catalog and LINX (auto mated serials control system) for his monograph and serial call numbers-the easy ones first.They would be dealt with quickly.For other requests, containing incomplete citations, the detective work began.Because Paul has had experience in * " Document delivery" may be defined in sev ways.It is used to describe how Interlibrary Loan provides materials to users.It is often associated with the delivery of documents electronically."Document delivery" is also used to describe a ser vice designed to place materials in users' hands without requiring that they visit the library."Doc ument delivery" in this article refers to the latter definition.