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.