The comparisons between the performance in the USA and in Finland have raised questions on Nordic performance within this area, and we believe that a Nordic study is very desirable and could be of great use. The possibility to compare Nordic information with the study from USA gives also an international perspective that can be useful. This Nordic study is in English language to be able to compare results in different countries and with the North American study. Information about real costs makes it, furthermore, possible for the respective libraries to budget and charge for the services on an appropriate level. Direct costs mean costs that a library incurs to fill an ILL borrowing or lending request.
Fill rate refers to the percentage of borrowing or lending requests successfully filled.
The factor of time is measured in the number of calendar days it takes to complete a borrowing request. This is why there is a questionnaire on general characteristics of the library. The libraries can use it to check the level of service compared with other libraries. The steering group suggested that from each four big countries 15 libraries would participate and 5 from Iceland. The steering group has chosen your library to the study.