E-books and interlibrary loan: an academic centric model for lending

Ironically, digitally born documents do not fit into existing frameworks of interlibrary lending. In most cases this is because publishers consider them too easy to exchange. In practice, this means that digital documents are often being printed and scanned before being shipped off to a requesting library. This system of circumvention is inefficient - at many levels - and generates a vast pool of activity from which neither authors nor publishers benefit. With the changing paradigm of document delivery, publishers of electronic journals are trying to get their share of the market by offering articles on a 'pay-as-you-go' basis, though at rates many times greater to what is being offered by document delivery services operated by libraries. Instead of joining forces in the digital era, libraries and publishers are fighting a battle which is sometimes described by librarians as the fight between the Good and the Evil. However, new models are emerging which leave room for both library and publisher in the future information chain. Ebooks are emerging in academic libraries and, with the experiences gained, should get a better birth than electronic journals - hopefully also from the point of view of interlibrary loan. This paper will report on the initial scenarios for integrating electronic books in the interlibrary loan service, taking into account viable business models for all involved parties: authors, publishers, booksellers, libraries and end users.