VDX (standing for ''Virtual Document eXchange'') is a

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

product for

interlibrary loan Interlibrary loan (abbreviated ILL, and sometimes called interloan, interlending, document delivery, document supply, or interlibrary services, abbreviated ILS) is a service where patrons of one library can borrow materials and receive photocopies ...

(ILL) and document request management. VDX was developed by UK company Fretwell-Downing Informatics, a company which in 2005 was taken over by

OCLC PICA OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was ...

, itself wholly acquired by OCLC Online Computer Library Center in 2007. VDX allows library staff to create and manage document borrowing and lending requests between participating

libraries A library is a collection of Document, materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or electronic media, digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a ...

. VDX manages all the stages of the ILL process. It is also an efficient way to collect copyright fees for copyright holders such as authors and publishers.

Description

ILL requests are sent to VDX through a process called automediation. VDX validates the request for the necessary information — author, title, date of publication — and searches for the item. It then creates a routing list (or "rota") of libraries that own the item. The request is sent to the first library on the rota, which indicates whether it can supply the item. If the library cannot lend or process the request, it will be automatically directed to the next library on the routing list, and so on, until a library is found that can supply the document. The document is then sent to the requesting library. Throughout the document exchange process, the requesting library can check the status of the request at any time. VDX is based on

ISO 10161 ISO 10161 is the ISO standard, first published in 1993, that defines the interlibrary loan (ILL) application protocol for communication between various document exchange systems. It allows ILL systems at different libraries A library is a co ...

, which is the international standard for ILL. ISO 10161 defines communication protocols and guarantees that ILL information can be communicated between different ILL programs (such as VDX and similar products). Another standard,

ISO 10160 ISO 10160 is the ISO standard, first published in 1993, that defines the terminology that is used for interlibrary loan Interlibrary loan (abbreviated ILL, and sometimes called interloan, interlending, document delivery, document supply, or int ...

, determines the terminology that is used for ILL transactions across various document exchange systems. Development of VDX ceased years ago (as of 2018), and it will not incorporate the new ISO 18626 standard.

References

External links

VDX page
at OCLC

at Access Pennsylvania Library automation OCLC {{software-stub