Borrow or buy? cost-effective delivery of monographs

In an effort to reduce Interlibrary borrowing activity, while enhancing the Library collection, the Bertrand Library has initiated a program to purchase current monographs requested through ILL by Bucknell University students and faculty. The results have been a successful reduction in ILL workload, and a cost-effective means of document delivery as measured by average delivery time, cost-per-title, processing costs, and circulation statistics. This procedure reflects an overall change in our philosophy concerning document access and delivery, which led to the reorganization of ILL services and staff in the Bertrand Library.