If you can't find a journal article in Bata Library's physical collection, you might be able to order it electronically -- gratis -- and get it within two days.

        The library has introduced new software that enables researchers to send electronic requests for specific journal articles Trent doesn't have but the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) does. The institute has more than 50,000 subscriptions to science, technology and medicine journals and specializes in document delivery. It beats requesting an interlibrary loan, a system which typically takes two weeks to deliver.

        The software is called Generalized Online Document Ordering and Transmission (GODOT) and its creators promise "the wait is over."

        University librarian Tom Eadie began offering the service Jan. 26 as a pilot project possibly until the end of June. It is targeted to the needs of graduate students and researchers, not really to undergraduates. For now, he has allocated $6,000 from the library budget to cover the $8 fee CISTI charges to deliver each request. The service could be cut short if he runs out of money because of more-than-anticipated requests.

        GODOT promises faster access to more journals "than Trent has ever been able to afford," says Eadie. And, it could be cheaper, too. "What I want to do is turn some of Trent's collections money into delivery money." A journal-use survey identifying which might be culled and the speedy example of GODOT will bolster Eadie's campaign to persuade science department chairs to redirect some of their library budgets to this electronic delivery.

        Researchers can order an article instantly, if they can't find it in the Trent holdings, and CISTI will deliver it electronically within two working days. Bata staff will print and store the article for pickup at the circulation desk. It saves them a lot of paper work.