Generous but Responsible: The Unique, the Rare, and Interlibrary Loan

Abstract

The three papers which follow were presented at the 29th RBMS Preconference in New Orleans on July 7, 1988. T he lively discussion which followed, not recorded, expanded some of the issues touched upon here and left little doubt that special collections librarians are indeed grappling with the issue of how to be “generous but responsible” with respect to interlibrary loan. RLC’s “Additional Guidelines for Access to Archives, Manuscripts, and Special Collections,” reproduced as the Appendix to this article, reveals the environment within which RLC member institutions operate and provides an example of how the issue has been addressed.

The . . .