A Web-based document delivery system for scientific information management in Italian research libraries

A high priority in many libraries is providing users with rapid online searching and requesting of journal articles, with desktop delivery options to view full-text versions on-screen, or to download and print "just-when-you-like". The topic of Web-based document delivery service is presently being investigated across disciplines, often with a strong technological emphasis. The present article takes a managerial and organizational approach by placing the document delivery service in the context of the Italian research libraries (IRL), and focusing on opinions of the librarians concerning the document delivery developments with Web-based technology. The focus of this paper is also a description and maintenance of the Internet delivery system (IDS) project and it examines organizational and individual approaches to librarian assignment.