Abstract
The Health Sciences Libraries Consortium (HSLC) was established in 1985 by thirteen founding member institutions in Pennsylvania and Delaware. In 1989, the Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery, and Union List Task Force, appointed by the HSLC Board of Directors, successfully demonstrated the feasibility of supplying 94% of all interlibrary loan (ILL) photocopy requests in forty-eight hours or less by a network application of group 3-level memory telefacsimiles. However, the expenses associated with the telefacsimile operation and the limitations associated with network polling protocols challenged participants to seek new alternatives for ILL. In 1990, the HSLC introduced HSLC HealthNET, an online wide-area network linking eleven of the thirteen institutions and their resources while providing access to the Internet. The HSLC HealthNET additionally supports a centralized shared library system, several locally mounted databases, and consortiumwide electronic mail. In 1991, a project was initiated to evaluate Ariel software, pioneered by the Research Libraries Group (RLG), compared to the existing network application of group 3-level telefacsimiles. Factors identified as critical to Ariel's potential to replace the telefacsimile network were the proprietary software specifications for Internet access, the use of HSLC's existing wide-area network (WAN), and a hardware platform that was optimal for an ILL environment. This article describes the Ariel project history, the transition to Ariel from the telefacsimile network, evaluation of equipment features for processing efficiency, and operational issues affecting ILL policy.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Bennett V. M., Dell E. Y. Use of group 3-level memory telefacsimiles for enhanced interlibrary loan, part II: Network application. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1993 Jul;81(3):265–270. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Bennett V. M., Wood M. S., Malcom D. L. Criteria-based evaluation of group 3 level memory telefacsimile equipment for interlibrary loan. Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1990 Apr;78(2):131–139. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]