Resource sharing and interlending
This section covers resource sharing and interlending between libraries. There is a long history of university libraries offering interlibrary loans to users in order to allow access to material outside of the home collection. This service may be offered on a differential basis to differing user groups but is often a core service for postgraduate and research students / academic staff.
Traditionally UK interlibrary loans were primarily facilitated by lending and document supply via the British Library. However, more recently market dominance of the British Library Document Supply Centre has been challenged by consortia lending (facilitated via resource sharing solutions integrated with library service platforms) and commercial document supply solutions.
Details of differing interlending solutions can be found on our product directory