Planning for document supply: Sweden and Scandinavia

Abstract

Organized cooperation between Swedish research libraries dates back to the end of the 19th century, when work began on the Swedish union catalogue. In 1990, Sweden, with 6,127 requests per 100,000 population, was the most interlending intensive country in Europe. However, the decentralization of higher education has focused attention on local services rather than national cooperation. To meet the threat of fragmentization, a system of national resource libraries has been developed, administered by the Royal Library's Office for National Planning and Coordination, BIBSAM. The tradition of cooperation is common to the Nordic countries, possibly with the exception of Iceland. Legal deposits provide access to the national imprint. For foreign publications, one depends heavily on ILL. The union catalogues have been automated. Apart from Iceland, different types of central library systems have been developed, although Sweden is exceptional as to the extent of funding. The idea of planning acquisitions on a Nordic basis, introduced by the middle of the 1950's in the socalled Scandia Plan, proved completely unrealistic. The Nordic Union Catalogue of Serials, by contrast, has served well for many years.