The study summarises the results of a sample survey, Involving 15 libraries, of the composition, organisation and administration of document delivery within and among libraries of the Northern Transdanubian region.
Interlibrary lending is a regular service both as senders and as borrowers In the libraries surveyed. So far as the number of requests is concerned, the Veszprém university library is the first, then come county and college libraries. It Is the Szombathely county library that fulfils the most requests (2600).
The demand for this service has not decreased after the introduction of fees so much as librarians had expected. The rate of fulfilled requests is 80-90%, which is also better than anticipated. In public libraries Interlending of Hungarian books, as well as social science and humahity Gooks is high. There is higher demand for foreign technical Iiterature; mainly for journal articles, In academic Institutions and spécial libraries: OPACs offer good possibilities for locating the items; and selection among sources depends on where the services are cheaper or free. Personal relations enhance the transaction. There is a heavy load on larger collections. Due to piling up of requests and the low number of copies the service can be Very slow (a mean of 4-5 weeks, in,the case of lending the originals it may be as long as 3-6 months). Sending requests by fax or e-mail may speed up the transaction. 60-80% of the requests of town libraries are satisfied by county libraries.
User satisfaction was also Included in the survey. The typical user of interlending Is a male lecturer in his forties with university training and a high level of library skills. There were three basic motivations mentloned in connection with interlending: participation in research projeicts, further training, and daily tasks in the workplace: The majority of interlending for study. purposes are asked for from county libraries. In spite of long waiting periods and fees, 82% of the users considered the service operational. 36% of users is likely to be lost due to the fees. The majority of those asked found covering copying and postal costs reasonable, however, there were some who thought these should be included in the registration fee.