The purpose of inter-library loans is to make available the unusual
material in one library to an enquirer who cannot visit it in person
and does not find available the identical material in some institution
nearer at hand or which has a nearer constitutional duty to serve
him. The service to him must be subject to the convenience of the
constituency of the lending library and can be expected only if the
risk and expense of it shall be met by the borrowing library in his
behalf.
1. It is not to be expected therefore that a library will lend either
(1) books which if not in the applicant library, are within the
ordinary duty of the latter to supply; or (2) books in constant use
among its own readers; or (3) books for the general reader as against
the investigator.
2. It is not to be expected that material will be sought the
transportation of which, even with the best precautions, involves a
necessary injury,--as for instance, by strain,--or a contingent injury
in its use outside of the walls of the institution owning it by persons
over whose use it has no supervision. A stipulation for its use within
the walls of the borrowing library, while entirely reasonable, may not
cover the case completely, as the responsibility for the care of the
material cannot, by a mere stipulation for care, be transferred from
the owning to the borrowing library.
3. Subject to 2, the important service in inter-library loans being to
make generally available the unusual book for the unusual need of the
serious investigator, the fact that the book needed is either rare, or
part of a set which may be marred by the loss of a single volume, or
that it is even unique, as for instance a manuscript, ought not to be
conclusive against the loan, for it is just through such material that
the inter-library loans may render their most important service.
4. The applicant library should refrain from applying (a) for ordinary
books which are within its constitutional duty to supply to its
immediate readers, or (b) for unusual books requested for a purpose
which it knows to be trivial, or by a person of whose discretion and
seriousness it is not assured, or (c) for books which, within the
legitimate provisions of a loan are to be had from some institution
nearer at hand, or having a nearer constitutional duty to it and to the
constituency which it serves, or (d) for books which upon their face
must be in constant use in any library possessing them.
5. The lending library may reasonably stipulate: (a) That the entire
cost of the service shall be met by the borrowing library, and may
look to this library alone as responsible both for the safety and
prompt return of the material and for the replacement of the material
if lost or damaged, and (b) it may reasonably include as part of the
expense: (1) packing; (2) carriage; (3) insurance; (4) the fraction,
if estimable, which the particular loan should bear of the expense of
administering the service. (c) As to the duration of the loan: that
it shall not exceed the period of its local loans, with an allowance
added for the transit both ways; and the lender may reasonably couple
with this a right of summary recall. It may also impose penalties for
delays in returning material, or for carelessness in its use or in
repacking. It may of course reserve the right to decline further loans
to a library which has shown indifference in these regards, or whose
applications have been incessantly frivolous. (d) It may of course
limit the number of volumes lent to any one library or for the use of
any one investigator at any one time. (e) It may, without prejudicing
applications from other institutions, deny the application of any
particular library, because of lack of assurance as to the safety or
intelligent use of the material if lent. Its decisions in this regard
resting often upon the impressions of a general experience, ought to be
unembarrassed. It should not therefore be called upon to explain them.