The Specifics of Interlibrary Organization

If, in bringing together the library patron and the material he needs, the librarian finds that he has exhausted the resources of his own institution, he turns to those of pther libraries. In fact, it is taken for granted that he will do so; today we do not stop to realize that without library cooperation this would not be possible. There are, of course, many kinds of library cooperation: regional library centers, union lists, subject specialization, cooperative cataloging, exchange of duplicates, joint purchase of supplies, and interlibrary loans --to name but a few. All contribute to better library service, but this paper considers only those which affect reference work especially. Among cooperative devices perhaps the first to come to mind is the union list. In the last seventy-five years the number of union lists in existence has multiplied greatly, and there are a number of reasons why they constitute so successful a type of library cooperation. In the first place, there is neither need for indefinite commitments on the part of the cooperating libraries, nor is it necessary for them to give up anything. The union list, on the other hand, has an immediate practical use for cataloging, for acquisition purposes, for weeding and for locating items either for direct consultation or for interlibrary loan.published or submitted for publicatio