Resource sharing and co-operation, especially co-operative collection development, are essential components in collection management – and this has been the case rather longer than these have been ‘hot topics’ among information professionals. In the USA, for example, it has long been a part of professional practice, as the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies recognizes:

Co-operation occurs at many levels and in most areas of library service, from joint storage facilities and shared technical processing services to interlibrary loans (ILL) and reciprocal access for users. But this chapter is about co-operation at the level of collection development, with the intention of providing readers with access to a wider range of information resources.

Co-operative activities are becoming increasingly important for service delivery, primarily because of the ever-expanding availability of electronic data and improvements in telecommunications. Network access to online catalogues facilitates resource sharing at the item level – the only level of real interest to most clients. But having established that another library has what is wanted, how is it to be obtained? Network access to the electronic documents themselves poses a different set of problems. Some of these – including costs, access and preservation – were noted in Chapter 1. Book loans remain at the pace of ‘snail mail’ but journal articles, at least, can routinely be faxed to the requester. And there is good evidence that electronic service delivery results in greater usage of resources.