The Development of Resource Sharing, Scholarly Communication, and the Role of Publishers in the Context of Academic Libraries

Both commercial and noncommercial publishing have impacted interlibrary loan and other types of resource sharing, such as patrondriven systems, in a variety of ways. Interlibrary loan has always been a concern of publishers, with the possibility libraries would copy in "such aggregate quantities as to substitute for a subscription to or purchase" of a work (CONTU 1978). Exceptions and limits have been in place in the law and as guidelines for library copying for patrons and interlibrary loan since 1978. However, over the past five decades or so, as traditional print publications, electronic "Big Deals," licensing, and permissions have become increasingly unsustainable for library budgets, the open access (OA) movement has gained acceptance and has influenced resource sharing as well. OA materials are being used to fulfill resource-sharing requests, and researcher behavior may bypass traditional means of resource sharing altogether for greater speed and ease of access. Traditional publishing has found itself at a crossroads with the need to adapt as researchers increasingly accept new models of scholarly communication. There are plenty of moving parts in resource sharing today, and these are explored herein.