Meeting the urgency for document delivery in clinical medicine

A Document Delivery library project was designed to improve delivery of information to health professionals in the Washington DC/Baltimore area. The project goals were to enhance delivery of full text documents and accelerate interlibrary loan services. The aim was to provide direct library services in the clinical arena by facilitating access to the articles needed by practitioners and clinical investigators. The objectives were to (1) design, develop and implement a comprehensive Document Delivery System (DDS) for the Library Information System (LIS) which included interlibrary loan, photocopy services and facsimile transmission capabilities; (2) establish a multi-university Library Knowledge Network for resource sharing; and (3) evaluate the project. The DDS and facsimile service are described and project data and outcomes are reported. Today, the participating libraries can use electronic means to share interlibrary loans. Georgetown users have responded favorably to the DDS and Fax services.