The object of this essay has been to investigate the interlibrary loan service at the universitylibraries of Borås and Kalmar. For this purpose a quantitative and a qualitative methodhave been used.The main body of information consists of statistic data concerning the incoming interlendingorders for a three-month-period. In order to examine the circumstances under which theinterlending activity exists several interviews were made.The study showed that there are several important factors which together make up the complexitythat governs the interlending activity. What type of demand there is depends on theeducational level, whether the different study programmes have a broad or limited subjectorientation or not, and if the demand is of a constant or an inconstant nature. Well-establishedroutines at the information-desk and co-operation with the departments of the different studyprogrammes are important factors in keeping the knowledge of what books and serials areneeded up to date.

The aim of this essay is to investigate and describe some of the important factors which should be taken into consideration when a Swedish interlibrary loan system for the future is discussed. The Swedish interurban lending centres and their tasks are discussed in this context.The method used for this purpose is qualitative. The representatives of the three interurbanlending centres are interviewed.One of the conclusions reached in this essay, is that there are several possible ways to go when creating an interlibrary loan system for the future needs. In the end of this essay, a number of schematic models for this purpose are introduced. Their advantages as well as their disadvantages are discussed in this context.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the possibilities for creating a national interlibraryloan system in Sweden and to see how it could be integrated into an international network .The methods used are both qualitative and quantitative. We have sent inquiries to a numberof libraries and we have interviewed keypersons in the interlibrary loan field in Sweden.We have reached the conclusion that in spite of several impediments there is a lot that speaksfor a Swedish national interlibrary loan system in the near future. A national bibliographicdatabase is already evolving.

Uppsatsen är en studie av fjärrlåneverksamheten av äldre tryck, med digitalisering som en valmöjlighet. Kontexten är dels utvecklingen av digitaliseringsprojekt hos bibliotek, dels det användarcentrerade förslaget hos 2010 års fjärrlåneutredning. Som fallstudier beskrivs två bibliotek i Umeå, universitetsbiblioteket och Sveriges depåbibliotek. Utvärderingens centrala fråga är om digitalisering kan vara ett passande alternativ till fjärrlån av äldre tryck, för att stärka användarvänligheten. Problembilden utgår från en frågeställning över tre områden: Hur ser fjärrlånetrafiken av äldre tryck ut? Vilka problematiska aspekter finns det kring fjärrlån? Vilka konsekvenser får ett alternativ som digitalisering? Fjärrlån utgör en mycket liten del av den totala lånesumman, och det äldre trycket av det samma en nästan obetydlig del. Kostnad, tidsåtgång och ömtålighet är aspekter av verksamheten, och ett tänkt utfall är att effektiviteten skulle öka med digitalisering, vilket samtidigt skulle innebära att kulturarvet synliggörs, vilket är digitaliseringens främsta syfte idag. Dessutom skulle användarnas önskemål leda detta tillgängliggörande, vilket svarar mot både riktlinjer över digitalisering och fjärrlåneutredningens användarbaserade målsättning. Ett försök av implementering av digitalisering i fjärrlåneverksamheten vore intressant att se, och Umeå är en passande stad för ett pilotprojekt.

This Master thesis concerns Swedish Academic libraries current lack of ability to offer interlibrary loans of e-books to their primary users. Today it is possible for university-and college libraries primer user to make request of inter library loan for physical books, however, they cannot make such request for e-books. We will argue for that this problem should not be viewed as a simple inconvenience for the users. Our argument will be built on the assumption that access to information is an essential part of a well working democracy, and that libraries therefore should prioritize the question of inter library loans.  In our study we have interviewed librarians who is currently working with interlibrary loans and digital media. After that we have interpreted the transcriptions of those interviews with a phenomenographical perspective. Our aim with the study has been to examine how librarians experienced the phenomenon of interlibrary loan of e-books. We have therefore attempted to answer three research question: How do librarians work with inter library loans and which values do they connect to them? What difficulties and possibilities do they see in making inter library loans of e-books possible in the future? How do they view interlibrary loans in the digital era and how do they view the future of inter library loans of e-books?  We have found that librarians connect inter library loans with a will of sharing information and that they believe that libraries will have to cooperate to make inter library loans of e-books possible. Furthermore, we have found that our informants believe that interlibrary loans will still be needed in the near future, even though they might become irrelevant in far future due to increase in open access publications. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.