The Association of National University Libraries, Japan (ANUL) aims to expand inter-library use worldwide.
This concept is called as the Global ILL Framework (GIF). The Ad-Hoc Committee on International Scholarly Communication, ANUL is actively carrying out the operations to promote global document delivery service and inter-library loan (DDS/ILL).
This operation intends to improve researchers' accessibility to international scholarly information through inter-library loan and document delivery between overseas libraries.
In the seven recommendations on the access to the Information Highway adopted at the 18th US-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON) in 1997, improving the document delivery services for overseas requests by libraries and information service institutions in Japan and the United States was took up. To that end, ANUL carried out this operation in cooperation with the Research Promotion Bureau of MEXT, the National Institute for Informatics, the Japanese Coordinating Committee for University Libraries and so on.
Document delivery service was gone into full-scale operation in April 2002 and book loan service will be launched this year.
In the Joint Statement for the CULCON XXI held at Sendai on November 20-21, 2003, the US side of CULCON expressed deep appreciation to those organizations including ANUL that have contributed to the library cooperation and progress in information access.
ANUL will make further effort to expand and promote the GIF, such as expanding the service to countries other than North American countries including Republic of Korea.
A excerpt from the Join Statement for CULCON XXI is as follows:
Library Cooperation and Access to Information
Both Panels noted with approval the progress made among professionals in both countries with regard to the above issues.
The panelists continued to encourage the realization of global Document Delivery Service/Inter-Library Loan (DDS/ILL) and other forms of library cooperation. They emphasized the importance of cooperation and concrete results among the library communities.
The US side expressed deep appreciation to those organizations that have contributed to this effort: the National Diet Library; the Association of National University Libraries, Special Committee on International Scholarly Communication; the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Research Promotion Bureau; Japanese Coordinating Committee for University Libraries; the National Institute of Informatics; and The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership.