KITS: a national system for document supply in Turkey Ertugrul Cimen Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Turkey Ayhan Tuglu Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey Mehmet Manyas Document Supply/ILL, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey Sema C ¸ elikbas¸ Document Supply/ILL, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey, and Zeki C ¸ elikbas ¸ Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey Abstract Purpose – The paper aims to describe a new national system for resource sharing and document supply in Turkey. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes a historical and descriptive approach. Findings – KITS has been very successful in linking academic and other institutions in Turkey to an effective and efficient system of document supply. This is illustrated by figures provided on its expansion in the last two years. Practical implications – The paper is useful for all librarians concerned with national document supply systems, especially in the developing world. Originality/value – This is the first published review of the national system that is transforming document supply in Turkey, and it deals frankly with the obstacles that KITS faces, at the same time indicating the ways in which success has been achieved. Keywords Interlending, Document supply, Turkey Paper type General review Introduction The last 30 years have witnessed an exponential increase in information and communication technologies. Combined with the widespread use of the internet, digitisation of scholarly publications has been one of the most influential effects on libraries, librarianship, and access to knowledge. Libraries try to supply requested materials to their users in the shortest time possible. Individual libraries are facing great difficulties in serving this aim due to the rapid increase of information sources and the high costs associated with access and usage. As a remedy for these problems, consortia have been formed for purchasing and sharing electronic subscriptions to periodicals and databases. Consortia have become widespread throughout the world, but especially in North America and Europe (Karaso ¨zen and Lindley, n.d.). Consortia provide significant advantages especially for libraries with insufficient budget and/or printed sources. Even though consortium activities started more than 40 years ago in North America and Europe, the first attempt to form a consortium in Turkey occurred in 2000 through the collaboration of a state university and three private universities signing an agreement to subscribe to two databases offered by Ebsco (Karaso ¨zen and Lindley, n.d.). This agreement was the first step in forming ANKOS (the Anatolian University Libraries Consortium). Today, ANKOS, with 102 member libraries, subscribes to 63 databases. ANKOS has contributed significantly to the scientific performance of Turkey, as a huge number of users from many university and research libraries with limited budget and insufficient collections have been able to access electronic resources through the ANKOS consortium. The function of ANKOS is to give economic online access to knowledge by means of contemporary information technologies, but it also provides a forum for librarians to know each other better and to facilitate professional communication. To support these The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-1615.htm Interlending & Document Supply 38/1 (2010) 58–66 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0264-1615] [DOI 10.1108/02641611011025398] This article is a revised and updated version of a presentation given at the Document Delivery and Resource Sharing Section at the IFLA Conference in Milan, 23-27 August 2009. It is published with the kind cooperation of IFLA. The conference paper is at: www.ifla.org/files/hq/papers/ ifla75/143-cimen-en.pdf Received: 7 October 2009 Accepted: 23 November 2009 58