Document delivery

Abstract

Based on a short historical overview of journals, and on the present production rate of journal papers, the author proposes a solution of the information problem as the result of the development of various document delivery services. As an evidence, he presents 29 American and 8 European document delivery services with the awareness of the existence of many others. Libraries and publishers slrive todevelop their own or joint electronic document delivery services covering nol only bibliographic descriplions but also table-of-contents services of journal issues, abstracts of papers, and even full texts of papers. The author's conclusion is, however, the prediction of the coexistence of hard copy and electronic media rather than the substitution of the hard copy by the electronic form. A special atlention in the representation of this process is paid to the services of the E8SCO. subscription agency, because the author is one of EBSCO's managers.