The Connundrum of eBooks and Interlibrary Loan

Abstract

The article discusses the benefits, challenges and relationship of interlibrary loan (ILL) services and electronic books (eBooks). It was noted that eBooks reduces the demand of ILL and satisfy the need of distance education quickly and cheaply. However, ILL is challenged by commercial eBooks and research databases that lead to concerns in user preferences, cataloging, resource sharing settings and accessibility. Libraries are suggested to restore the right of loan materials to update the copyright, demand license concessions before the purchase or subscription of the content and encourage the development of open access eBook publishing.