How “free” we are: survey of the Italian policy in the document supply service

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The debate whether services must be charged or not is widely discussed in the library world and it still represents a controversial issue: the scope of this study is to analyse the Italian situation in order to evaluate what kind of policy (fee or free based) biomedical libraries have adopted in supplying the document delivery service (DD). Above all this study aims to state how “free” this service is in Italy. METHODS: The analysis is based on the Italian Union Catalogue of Serials - Catalogo Italiano dei Periodici (ACNP) which collects detailed data on the holdings and services of the Italian libraries and can be considered the most reliable source in this field. The available libraries’ web sites have also been consulted whenever the ACNP data were not complete or updated. DISCUSSION: Starting from the Italian context the case of the Italian National Institute of Health - Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), one of the main biomedical Italian libraries, is presented. Special attention is focused on how the DD policy of this Library has been changing over the years from a free basis system to a hybrid one based on exchange or fee. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion it is suggested that the results of the survey could be useful in order to re-examine the current DD policy of the ISS Library and its possible future developments.