Annals of Library Science and Documentation 1984,31 (1-2), 38-43

UNIVERSAL AVAILABILITY OF PUBLICATIONS ;PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

Defines Universal Availability of Publica-tions, its evolving conceptions, and its inter-national and national dimensions. Discussespractical problems pertaining to UniversalAvailability of Publications and provides possi-ble solutions.

INTRODUCTION

It has been man's continual quest to be able toidentify, locate and have access to all recordspublished anywhere and in any language, whichmight be of interest to him. The objective ofUniversal Availability of Publications (UAP),a concept propounded by Maurice B Line [1],is the widest possible availability of publishedmaterial to intending users. UAP means

'that every published document, wheneverand wherever published should be availableto anyone who wants it more or less wherehe wants it - its presence in a referencecollection, a long way from the users, isnot enough' [2] .

The objective of UAP is the widest possibleavailability of published material (i.e. recordedknowledge issued for public use) to intendingusers, wherever and whenever they need it. Itis an essential element in economic, social,educational and personal development. TheUAP programme aims to improve availabilityat all levels, from the local to the international,and at all stages, from the publication of newmaterial to retention of last copies, both byi>ositive action and by the removal of barriers.UAP aims at ensuring that existing improvedaccess to information on documents throughuniversal bibliographical control (UBC) [3] is

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S. HUSSAINDepartment of Library ScienceAligarh Muslim UniversityAligarh (U.P.)

matched by improved access to the documentsthemselves.

EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPT

The concept of UAP, like so many innovationsin post-war librarianship, originated with DonaldUrquhart, and was in fact stimulated by UBC.Urquhart argued that it was of no use- indeedit was positively frustrating - to provide an.ever fuller and faster supply of references ifthe documents to which they referred couldnot be obtained.

In fact, the need of UAP was recognisedin 1973 when IFLA Committee on InternationalLending put forward a resolution urging theacceptance by each country of responsibilityfor making its native publications available toother countries [4]. The first formal recogni-tion of the need for UAP came in November1974 when the IFLA Committee on Inter-national Lending and Union Catalogues putbefore the General Council meeting a resolu-tion in the following terms:

"As dll essential element in any programmeof national and international library plan-ning, and as a natural concomitant of UBC.efforts should be made both within eachcountry and between countries to improveaccess to publications, by increasing theavailability and speed of interlending ser-vices and by developing simple and efficientprocedures. The ultimate aim should be toensure that all individuals throughout theworld should be· able to obtain for per-sonal use any publication, wherever or when-ever published, either.in original or copy".

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So far, most of the practical responsibilityfor furthering UAP has rested with IFLA officefor International Lending, established at BostonSpa in 1975 with Maurice B. Line as director.The IFLA Congress held at Strbske Pleso,Czechoslovakia, in August/September 1978, hadUAP as its theme, and divisions and sectionsdevoted much, if not most, of their effort toUAP. The only major research carried out up tonow is a comparative study of National Inter-lending Systems [5], done by the IFLA officefor International Lending on contract toUNESCO, which has expressed its full supportof UAP. About 300 copies of this study weredistributed by UNESCO to national librariesand UNISIST focal points.

Potentially most significant of all recentdevelopments is the' International Congress on

UAP held in Paris in May 1982. Problemsidentified as constraints to the availability ofpublications were discussed during the congress'and effective solutions were sought.

BARRIERS TO UAP

Having discussed the concept and need of UAPlet us examine the difficulties in achieving UAP.The term UAP implies two things:

(i) Availability of the world's publications,and

(ii) Availability of publications to all in thew·orld.

The forrner requires a comprehensive collectionof world's publications whereas the latter isresponsible for uni;ersal lending. Thus thereare two sets of problems:

(i) Problems m making a comprehensivecollection.

(ii) Problems in universal lending. '

Making a comprehensive collection of allworld's publications is not simple. It should bethe responsibility of each country to documentits published out-put. The legal deposit lawsshould take care of this problem in each coun-try. But, not all countries have adequate depositlaws. Even if the laws exist their coverage may

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not be comprehensive and their applicationmay not be thorough. The problem of a com-prehensive collection of world's published out-put becomes more pronounced when one findsthat much of the recorded knowledge is semi-published (i.e. appearing in the form of re-ports, distributed in limited numbers) or isavailable in non-book form such as soundrecordings, films, video tapes, slides and otheraudio-visual media. UBC aims at ensuring thatbibliographical records, in a standard form, areprovided for publications all over the world.Much progress has already been made but agreat deal is yet to be done. Not only has theoutput of many developing countries, still tobe documented, but even among developedcountries it is difficult to claim total coverageof publications, both currently and retrospec-tively.

Even if the recorded knowledge is compre-hensively collected in a given country, yetthis does not necessarily result in availability.If single copies of all the country's publicationsare collected in one place or'divided amongseveral libraries, these copies may not be used,off the premises. It means either the needyreaders, specially those at distant places, shouldtravel to that place or a copy of the publicationbe routed to them. If the first method is follow-ed, the problems of cost, distance, inconveni-ence will prevant the readers to use the ma-terials. The second method is not hundred per-cent successful even in most developed coun-tries having best lending systems. For examplein Great Britain many documents that are notavailable locally cannot be supplied from else-where. The inter library loan system can claima satisfaction rate of over 95%, but 4% or 5%of 3m requests a year represents 120,000-150,000 documents - allowing for non-existentitems, say 100,000 documents a year [6]. Notonly that, a survey of the U.K. 's ability tosupply Brhish publications to other countrieson inter-library loan showed that about 20%of non-journals (monographs, theses, officialpublications etc) could not be provided [7].Some, but by no means all, of these were diffi-cult or obscure items. The situation in theFederal Republic of Germany, another countrywith a well-developed interlending system, is

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less satisfactory, and in most countries it mustbe worse. The reasons are not far to seek. Inthe first place, it is difficult to loan out rarematerial, available in one or two copies only.Secondly, book materials can be loaned outmore easily than audio and/or visual material.It is much easier to provide current publicationsin this way than .public ati ons of the past, whoseregulations may not permit lending. It is necess-ary to emphasise the obvious that no countryin the world can claim to make available allits current publications to any individual in anypart of the country. National availability is thebackbone of the universal availability. Thus,when country-wide availability does not exist,it is impossible to talk about world-wide avail-ability .

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

The problem of universal availability of publi-cations may be tackled in two steps as givenbelow:

(i) Developing national loan centres

In 1973 IFLA Committee on InternationalLending put forward a resolution urging theacceptance by each country of a responsibilityfor making its native publications available toother countries [8]. Organisation of inter-lending system must be a concern of individualcountries. However, some of the methods ofachieving this kind of access are discussedbelow:

(a) Comprehensive Collection: There should bea centre in each country which can acquireand loan out all native publications.National libraries or legal deposit librariesmay assume the function of such a centre.British Library Lending Division is anexample of this type.

(b) Union Catalogue: Another method ofnational availability of publications is asystem depending upon union catalogues.National union catalogues or regionalunion catalogues of different forms ofpublications will provide access to the hold-ings of a large number of libraries through-out the country. There are many example

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of such systems. However, the total costsof systems relying on union catalogue canbe higher than those of a central loancollection.

(c) Comprehensive Collections cum UnionCatalogues: Between the above two ex-tremes, one caahave a system relying part-ly on centralised collections and partly onunion catalogues or systems based on theholdings of a few libraries. For example,in Ll.K,; the inter-lending system dependson union catalogues extensively for olderpublications and foreign-language books;the main national union catalogues aremaintained by the lending division, butthere are also regional union catalogues,mainly of fairly recent British and otherEnglish language books.

(d) Cooperative Acquisition Programmes: An-other method for securing availability ofnational publications comprehensively is todivide the subject or subjects in a group oflibraries each of which will assume res-ponsibility for coverage of the subjectsassigned to it and any purchasing done bya library in a field chosen by another willbe a conscious duplication.

All the four methods mentioned above havesome drawbacks. For example, with systemsrelying on union catalogues and cooperativeacquisition schemes, it is difficult to ensurecomprehensive coverage whether in the acqui-sition or retention of material. Moreover, theservice provided by these methods will be slow,because the requests have to go through acentre before reaching a library that holds thematerial. If the material is not available inthat library, the request may have to go toanother library. Here also the material may bein demand locally and cannot be loaned out. Itis only natural that the needs of the library'slocal clientele must always have priority overrequest from other libraries.

In view of the above, the only alternativeleft is the photo-copying of such rare, hard-to-get or archival materials, provi ded the borrow-ing library is ready to bear the -cos t. 'This willmean lending the item completely. It will give

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rise to the problem of copyright. The copy-right le&islation may inhibit or completely ruleout the possibility of photocopying, meaningthereby that the materials which cannot beloaned out cannot be got at all. Extensive phto-copying may damage the material specially thebound books which is against the archivalpolicies. Besides, the items to be photocopiedmay be in great demand locally also, which willdelay the process.

(z"i) International Exchange of Publications

However, a national centre with comprehensivecollection will be responsible for making itspublications available either on loan or bysupplying photocopies both inside and outsidethe country. A national centre will be chargedwith the following functions:

(a) To screen the requests that are sent fromits own country to «her countries. Thisis important, because a particular itemrequested from abroad may be locallyavailable. It is, therefore, implicit that theNational Loan Centre, should not only becomprehensively stocked but also be fullyequipped with union catalogues represent-ing total national collection.

(b) To receive the requests of other countriesand make available the needed items. (i)

It is the concern of the individual coun tryto decide how it organises and tinances itsNational Loan Centre. The latter may befinanced directly by the state, cooperatively bylibraries or run by a library association. Inorder to make the system workable the follow-ing suggestions are made:

(A) Establishment of National Loan Centre,changed with the function of making thenational collection available to othercountries, should be the responsibility ofstate government of each country. Theidea which by now is implicit should bemade explicit in the UNESCO's Charter.Much is yet to be done specially in de-veloping countries in order to achieve UBCand UAP. UNESCO should encourage theestablishments of national loan centresby providing financial assistance.

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(B) A close -cooperation between NationalLending Centre and National Library,which is a state funded organisation and issupposed to receive all the native publi-cations under a legal deposrt act of thatcountry, is highly desirable. It ..may besuggested that National Lending Centremay function as one of the important unitsof the National Library, or the two mayfunction in coordination with one an-other under a higher body.

(C) National archives should be linked withNational Loan Centre. This will help inmaking available the photocopies of therequested archives. In the case of rarebooks or manuscripts, it is better to getat least three photocopies of each item.One copy may be kept in the NationalLoan Centre, another for the use of localclientele and the third may be preserved.It will not only increase the availability ofsuch material but also reduce the physicalhandling of rare collection, thus making itless susceptible to wear and tear.

OTHER POSSIBLE PROBLEMS IN THEEXECUTION OF UAP PROGRAMME

Service Cost: Quick transmission of infor-mation is the backs tone of UAP. One ofthe obstacles in fast international lendingis the process of making claim and repay-ment of costs. It will not be practicable tomake this service free of charge. Even, attimes, recovery of the cost of lending be-come.. unavoidable. If transmission is tobe fiv.' enough, the items will have to bemailed by air which will entail additionalcost. In the case of photocopies, the Copy-right Law may compell the recovery of full":05t. In any case, such costs must be farsmaller than the cas ts of purchasing therequired items and the total cost incurredon 'any country for a year's internationalborrowing must be very small, if not neg-ligible as compared to its total library ex-penditure.

To simpli fy the process of recoveringthe cost ()f lend.ing, -~t system of prepay-

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ment has been put forward. Libraries, reoceving most of the requests, can fix theirown charges and sell their own loan formsor coupons which may be brought fromthem in advance. Requests are acceptedonly if these forms or coupons are used.However, while talking about UAP it willbe useless to presume that the requestswill be concen trated to a few libraries, inwhich case, shifting currency exchangerates throughout the world may make itimpossible to establish standard chargesand to sell its own loan forms and couponsfor all requests. However, these problemsmay be reduced in future but completesolution seems to be like a wild goosechase.

(ii) Delay in transmission : Two to threemon ths delay in transmission is generallyexperienced. The reasons are many. ''''hena request is received in a library, the neededitem may already be out on loan. The reoquest then has to go to another libraryholding the same item. Even if the itemis available, the library may be reluctantto loan it out because it is likely to beaway for about six months or so. If thelibrary lends out the item, other requestinglibraries may be kept waiting. Moreover,if the item is sent by surface mail, it isgoing to take a very long time. The alter-native methods such as sending the itemsby air mail or sending a facsimile, are tooexpensive. A fast turn-round time mayhowever, be suggested to make the systemmore feasible.

(iii) International Library Loan Code: For thepurpose of international lending, differentcountries are using different types ofrequest forms which vary in their sizes,contents and layouts. To standardize theprocedures, of international lending, a setof rules in the form of 'InternationalLibrary Loan Code' must be formulated.It should lay down clearly, the purpose,responsibility of borrowing libraries andthat of lending libraries, scope, expenses,method of placement of request, durationof loan, notification and acknowledgement,

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violation of code and standard formatof loan form. Such a code should bewidely circulated and strictly followed. Abrief Guide to National Centres of Inter-national Lending and Photoco.pying wasprepared by IFLA office for Internationallending. However, such rules need revisionand reinforcement.

(iv) Customs : Custom regulations may proveto be another barrier of UAP.(Customofficials are more suspicious about Audioand/or Visual materials and other non-book materials. However, this problem maybe solved by putting authorized labelsfrom National Loan Centres.

(v) Censorship : Due to some socio-politicalreasons, certain publications are prohi-bited within certain countries. Such prob-lems seem to have no remedy.

(vi) Copyright Law : In view of high cost ofthe production of periodicals, librarieshave .cut down the subscription of periodi-cals. This has led to an increased demandfor photocopies from elsewhere. However,the publishers are demanding, and rightlytoo, that some payment should be madeto them for photocopies. They are alsodemanding that some restrictions beimposed on photocopying. In such cir-cumstances, the import of photocopiesfrom other countries may even be res-tricted if not completely prohibited.Different countries may pass some lawswhich may restrict the photocopying andrequire the payment of royalty to thepublishers. However, the enforcement ofsuch laws is by far not an easy job, spe-cially when copying library is in anothercountry. Such trends are, however, ex-tremely serious for UAP.

CONCLUSION

The UAP programme aims to improve availabi-lity of publications from the local to the inter-national level. Before thinking about the acces-sibility of items, one should be able to knowwhere a particular publication is available. This

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points to the concept of UBC. In fact, bothUAP and UBC are complementary to eachother. While the former locates a particularitem, the latter tries to find the means of itsavailability. The universal availability dependsupon national availability. A national libraryor any other appropriate institution shouldbe designated as 'National Centre for Inter-lending' which should be made responsible forall requests for document whether by way ofloan, photocopy or microform received/sentabroad. National libraries, by powers alreadyvested in them, should be able to assume therole of focal point for the UAP programmeand collect and publish relevant statistics with-out the need for additional legislative or ad-ministrative back-up. Underlying all of this,one cannot overemphasise the need for aneffective telecommunication and postal sys-tem.

The crux of the problem lies in the factthat the idea of UAP though essential foreconomic, social, educational and personaldevelopment, is not cent per cent practicable.As a matter of fact, UAP as Maurice B.Line [10] himself remarks, " .... is not an allor nothing concept". To this author, it is anever ending process and any progress madein me availability of publications will take ita step forward.

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REFERENCES1. Line, Maurice B. Universal availability of pub-

lications. UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries 1977,31(3),142-51.

2. Line, Maurice B. Barriers on the road to theuniversal availability of publications. LibraryAssociation Record 1978,80(11).

3. Anderson, Dorothy. Programme for U.B.C.:the background and the basis. IFLA Journal1975,1,4-8.

4. International Federation of Library Associa-tion: Medium term programme. The Hauge:IFLA,1976.

5. Line, Maurice, B. et al. National interlendingsystems: a comparative study of existing sys-tems and possible models. Boston Spa: IFLAOffice for International Lending, 1978.

6. Line, M.B. and Steemson, R.]. InternationalLending in the Unitecf Kingdom. InterlendingReview 1978,6(2),31-8.

7. Line, M.B. and Seal, A. The ability of the BritishLibrary Lending Division to supply Bri'6shpublications on loan to other countries. BritishLibrary Lending Review 1977,55(4),1'19-26.

IFLA Annual 1973, p. 67.

IFLA Office of International Lending: Briefguide to national centres of international lend-ing and photocopying. Boston Spa: BritishLibrary Lending Division, 1976.

Line, Maurice B. Universal availability of pub-lications. UNESCO Bulletin for Libraries 1977,31(3),142-51.

8.9.

10.

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