Interlibrary loan

In 1876, Massachusetts librarian Samuel Swett Green published a proposal for an interlibrary loan system modeled on European examples, writing, "It would add greatly to the usefulness of our reference libraries if an agreement should be made to lend books to each other for short periods of time.

"[8]In 1886, Joseph C. Rowell, librarian at the University of California, Berkeley, sought permission to begin an interlibrary loan program.

IFLA published the "International Resource Sharing and Document Delivery: Principles and Guidelines for Procedure" in 1954.

[12] In Great Britain, Kate Edith Pierce became the chair of the newly formed East Midlands Regional Library Bureau in 1935.

[15] In 1997, following a flash flood that significantly damaged its physical journal holdings, Colorado State University developed RapidILL as a resource sharing solution.

[19] The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) is a major resource sharing network in North America with a buy-in membership system.

[25] Consorcio Iberoamericano para la Educación en Ciencia y Tecnología (ISTEC) is a consortium and resource sharing network of 50 institutions across 17 countries in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula, with a focus on science and technology materials.

[26] Many ISTEC member libraries use the software Celsius, which was developed as part of the consortium initiative.

[31][32] The National Diet Library of Japan serves as a resource sharing hub for Japanese-language materials domestically and internationally.