- Email: [email protected]
Importance of consortia in developing countries—an Indian scenario
ARTICLE IN PRESS The International Information & Library Review (2004) 36, 227–231
The International Information & Library Review www.elsevier.com/locate/iilr
Importance of consortia in developing countriesFan Indian scenario Sandeep K. Pathaka,*, Neela Deshpandeb a
STA-III, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Post Bag 4, Ganeshkhind 411 007, Pune, India b Department of Library and Information Science, University of Pune, Pune 411 007, India
Summary This paper draws attention to the importance of consortia and their impact on society, especially in developing countries like India. The present scenario of consortia among university libraries, special libraries and different technical institute libraries in India is discussed. & 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction It is a fact that no libraries even those in developed countries can claim completeness in their collection, and this is more so for libraries in a developing country like India. User expectations are too high especially in academic libraries. The desire to provide users with information to meet their research interests despite a limited budget has always been the prime motivation to librarians. Consortia have existed in India since the early 1900s; though it was termed differently, the idea was the same, as it is understood now. Library cooperation has been going on successfully for decades in other countries like the United Kingdom, which has a strong tradition of sharing services and resources among academic as well as special libraries. Cooperation among libraries has been an international tradition for decades, the phenomenal growth of consortia over the past decade clearly has been fueled by the rapid transformation made possible by using technology. Today, many libraries are already a part of one or more consortia, and those that are not are rapidly taking steps to
*Corresponding author. Tel.: þ 91-20-5691414; fax: þ 91-205690760. E-mail address: [email protected] (S.K. Pathak).
develop these strategic partnerships with other libraries. The consortium movement initially was most pronounced in academic libraries.
Library consortia A consortium is a group of libraries coming together with common interests. One of the libraries or agencies works as coordinator for each publisher, negotiation, legal matters, etc. One definition of Library consortia could be the ‘‘coming together of libraries to achieve a common goal that is beyond what an individual library could achieve on its own’’. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, consortium means a ‘‘temporary cooperation of a number of powers, companies etc. for a common purpose. It is an association of similar type of organization/institution who are engaged for producing and servicing the common things/for providing services for a specific purpose of its users.’’ According to the Cambridge Online Dictionary (Cambridge Online dictionary, http://dictionary. cambridge.org/), a consortium is ‘‘an organization of several businesses or banks joining together as a group for a shared purpose’’. The aim of consortia is to achieve what the members of the group cannot achieve individually. A library consortium is a collective activity to
1057-2317/$ - see front matter & 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.iilr.2003.10.003
ARTICLE IN PRESS 228
provide shared expertise, access to new electronic and print resources, professional development, and new sources of funds.
Consortium and mutual effort The word ‘‘consortium’’ is a good word for libraries, as it combines the past with the present and the future. It is not only derived from Latin, but also retains its Latin form and structure. In modern usage, the word was first adopted in the seventeenth century in relation to the association and fellowship between husband and wife. In law the term still applies to the husband and wife relationship. Although the exact date for the first use of the term ‘‘library consortium’’ is not clear, it can be said that the concept of ‘‘consortium’’ as ‘‘association or partnership’’ has long been a tenet of librarianship, generally encompassed in the terms ‘‘cooperation,’’ ‘‘coordination,’’ and ‘‘collaboration’’ Kopp (1998). Melvil Dewey wrote about ‘‘library co-operation’’, in an issue of the Library Journal that appeared in 1886, and a year earlier E. Mac presented views on ‘‘Co-operation versus competition’’ in the same publication (Kopp, 1998, p. 7). Furthermore, R.B. Downs expressed the futuristic view of library co-operation in a paper ‘‘One for all: a historical sketch of library co-operation, 1930–1970’’ that was included in the 1939 symposium on ‘‘The Library of Tomorrow’’ organized by the ALA. The formation of a consortium was an attractive solution to many institutions since it addressed a number of longstanding processes and problems. The role of consortia in sharing expertise about library automation was another reason for their growth. In the introduction to Guidelines for Library Cooperation, Ruth Patrick provides similar observations on cooperation among libraries to those mentioned earlier. She notes, ‘‘Interlibrary cooperation is not a new phenomenon. Awareness of the vast and growing world literature, in relation to the holdings and resources of any single library, has fostered among librarians as acute appreciation of the interdependence of most of the nation’s libraries and of the requirement for some level of cooperation. Academic libraries have proposed cooperative ventures long before the other parts of their institutions expressed any interest in such ventures, and interlibrary cooperative arrangements have often been one of the more productive areas of inter institutional agreements’’ (Patrick, 1972).
S.K. Pathak, N. Deshpande
Initiatives for library consortia in India Until some years ago, academic libraries could subscribe to a reasonable number of journals in different disciplines. Due to rising costs and unfavorable foreign exchange rates, it has now become impossible for most libraries to be able to subscribe to periodicals, which has caused grave difficulties for university faculty, research students and other users. Indian universities are not able to maintain the subscription even for core journals due to the ever-increasing cost of journal subscriptions in all disciplines. This situation appears to be irreversible because the cost of subscriptions is rising at a higher rate than the increase in grants to the university libraries.
New developments Over the last several years, much of the periodical literature has become accessible electronically over the Internet. At the same time computers, reasonable communication bandwidth and access to the Internet have become available to some university departments. This availability is expected to increase enormously over the next couple of years because of the initiatives undertaken by the University Grants commission (UGC) to provide computer, networking and Internet access to universities and colleges. It should therefore be possible for departments to electronically access periodicals, and a mechanism must be created by which such access is made available to everyone in a robust manner. The following issues involved in the speedy implementation of such access need to be addressed. Variety: The university system encompasses every field of learning and many of different disciplines have to be addressed. There is a broad division between science, mathematics and nonscience subjects. Within science itself there are already large divisions between mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology which may need different approaches. It may be necessary to focus attention on a few areas, to implement an esubscriptions scheme for them, and then to use the expertise gained to address other subjects. Cost: In physics, some literature which is more than 2 years old is electronically available completely free of charge. More recent literature is also available free in the form of electronic preprint services, but a subscription has to be paid to electronically access published literature less
ARTICLE IN PRESS Importance of consortia in developing countries
than 2 years old. The situation is different in the areas of chemistry, biology and other science subjects.
UGC/INFLIBNET Initiative The University Grants Commission (UGC) is a statutory organization established by an act of Parliament in 1956. This is a national body for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of university education. The UGC serves as a vital link between the Union and state governments and the institution of higher learning. In addition to its role of giving grants to universities and colleges, the University Grants Commission also advises central and state Governments on the measures necessary for the improvement of university education (University Grant Commission, http://www.ugc.ac.in/). At the present time, the cost of e-subscriptions is often comparable to the cost of printed versions of the periodicals, but it is possible that large discounts can be obtained for bulk subscriptions. It may be possible here to treat the entire Indian university community as a single structure and for access to be made available to everyone through a single subscription. The UGC has taken up this big task called the UGC-INFONET, which seeks to provide high-speed Internet connections, electronic access to professional literature, and the development of multimedia content to supplement conventional learning and teaching.
INFLIBNET The Information and Library Network Centre is an autonomous Inter-University Centre (IUC) of the University Grants Commission (UGC) involved in creating infrastructure for sharing information among academic and research and development institutions (INFLIBNET Centre, http://www.inflibnet.ac.in/). INFLIBNET/UGC through its one point program is trying to provide access to e-subscription to all-important journals for the entire university community. For this purpose an expert committee has been setup by UGC for the selection of core journals in different disciplines and negotiation with different publishers. This committee also has to make decisions on some of the important databases for e-subscription under UGC/INFLIBNET. The committee is also working on the possibility of having a gateway portal through which one can search and get links to a subscribed title. The gateway portals play an important role as they give unique access to more than one publisher
229
(like one-stop shopping) from one particular site to avoid duplication of the search for each publisher. These portals play a very important role by providing access to the table of contents, abstracts to the major collections, and links to full-text articles of the subscribed titles. Some of these portals also provide the possibility of alerting services so that the research can define the set of subject areas and can keep getting email alerts on the titles of interest.
Indian Digital Library in Engineering Science and Technology (INDEST) The INDEST consortium was set up by the Ministry of HRD for 38 institutions in the area of technology and applied sciences. The major institutions covered under this consortium are all IIT’s, IISc, REC’s, IIM’s, etc., mostly covered under AICTE. The Ministry will meet the expenditure. However, this consortium allows other institutions with similar objectives to join together for getting the better pricing for the databases being subscribed.
FORSA libraries consortia The Forum for Resource Sharing in Astronomy (FORSA) came into existence in the year 1982, to aid in the sharing the resources available in astronomy libraries in the country. Members of FORSA are the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUCAA), the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Raman Research Institute (RRI), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Nizamiah Observatory (NO) and State Observatory, Nainital. In this consortium, subscription for both paper and electronic format are paid through the supplier. The agreement is meant for only astronomy journals published by a particular publisher. As per this agreement, each member maintains its own print subscriptions and with an additional 12% of its print subscription can access the journals subscribed by other libraries electronically Pathak (2002). The entire negotiation was based on the number of the print journals. It is a win–win situation for both the members and the publisher in terms of decreased cost for electronic access for members and a greater number of journals at the same price. The FORSA consortium recently concluded a consortium deal to access the journal Nature and has worked out a consortium deal for the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).
ARTICLE IN PRESS 230
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) consortia The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), established in 1942, is India’s largest research and development organization. It has 40 laboratories spread over the length and breadth of the country. More than 22,000 persons work in various laboratories and institutions of CSIR. CSIR contributes significantly to the development of highly qualified science and technology manpower at the national level through research fellowships, research associateships, and extramural research grants (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, http://www.csir.res.in/). The main objective of CSIR consortia is to strengthen CSIR library resources by pooling, sharing and providing electronic access, international databases and in-house information services to scholars and scientists of CSIR laboratories. CSIR is also going to provide access to Elsevier w-journals to all CSIR laboratories under the CSIR consortium.
Library consortium at the international level The library consortia around the world are organized along many different lines. They range from informal gatherings of librarians for sharing information with each other and promoting a united front to more formally organized operations, either sponsored by a single member institution or owned by all member institutions through a separate incorporated body.
International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) is an informal organization that began meeting in 1997. Comprised of about 60 library consortia in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Israel, and Australia, the Coalition represents over 5000 member libraries worldwide. The Coalition primarily serves higher education institutions by facilitating discussion among its members on issues of common interest. ICOLC conducts meetings to keep its members informed about new electronic information resources, pricing practices of electronic providers and vendors, and other issues of importance to consortium directors and their governing boards. These meetings also provide a forum for consortia representatives to meet with the infor-
S.K. Pathak, N. Deshpande
mation provider community, discuss their products, and engage in a dialog with Coalition members about issues of mutual concern. The ICOLC also maintains lists and web pages for the benefit of its members (International Coalition for Library consortia, http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/statement.html/). The following list represents a few examples of the range of library consortia within the academic library community. Arizona University Libraries Consortium [http:// www.library.yale.edu/consortia/AULC.html][USA]: AULC is a voluntary alliance of six university libraries situated in close proximity in Arizona. Primary functions are collections sharing, electronic content licensing and interlibrary loan/document delivery. A major function is the collective purchase of electronic information. Cape Library Cooperative [http://www.chec.ac.za/Academic/Calico/index.htm], [South Africa]. CALICO was established in 1992 and is a project within an incorporated body, the Adamaster Trust. The Trust is owned by the parent universities, which are all located in the Cape region of South Africa. The vision of CALICO is to promote information literacy and economic development in the Western Cape by providing information to users in a form they want, when and where they need it. Consortium of Academic Libraries in Manchester [http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/CALIM. html], [United Kingdom]. CALIM was established in 1992 as an alliance of five university libraries in the Manchester region. The aim is to reduce duplication through a common technical platform, collaboration in the delivery of information, standardization of user services, and joint staff development. Missouri Research Consortium of Libraries [http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/MIRACL. html], [United States]. This new consortium is comprised of six university libraries in close proximity. It supports reciprocal borrowing and interlibrary lending and a union catalogue linked to the individual library systems. Washington Research Library Consortium [http://www.wrlc.org], [United States]. One of the more closely integrated consortia in the USA. WRLC was founded in 1987. The Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) is a regional resource-sharing organization established by several universities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area to expand and enhance the information resources available to their students and faculty. Membership is comprised of seven universities. The existence of consortia has enhanced the provision of information services as libraries have shared their resources and costs of developing
ARTICLE IN PRESS Importance of consortia in developing countries
electronic library resources and, because of this, libraries have reduced spending by relying on each other’s collection strengths and interlibrary lending. In recent years, libraries have realized that there is an advantage in developing a common strategy and joined a consortium.
Conclusion Library consortia in developing countries expect further subsidies for journal subscriptions, free online access with print subscriptions, electronic access at lower cost than print, and alternative business models. Enhanced communication and interaction, special short-term training programs, and increased funding for librarians from developing countries to attend international conferences are also expected. International library associations can also extend their help with these. A consortium plays a vital role, especially in developing countries such as India, and the success of consortia very much depends on the members of consortia. The published literature and the discussion above give every indication that libraries will continue to form consortia. The library consortium,
231
on the basis of strength of numbers of institutions, offers strong and healthy business growth opportunities to the electronic publishers and attracts the best possible price and terms of agreement. This creates a win–win situation for both the members and the publisher in terms of the decreased cost for electronic access to members and an increased volume of sales for the publisher. Publishers, consortia, and aggregators have barely begun the process of learning how to work together. It is in our interest to work together if we believe there is value in the roles we play or that the scholarly community will be worse off for our absence.
References Kopp, J. (1998). Library consortia and information technology: The past, the present, the promise. Information Technology and Libraries, 17(1), 7–12. Pathak, S. K. (2002). Role of electronic journals in astronomy and astrophysics libraries in India: An overview of IUCAA Library. XX IASLIC National Seminar, Patiala, (pp. 187–192). Patrick, R. J. (1972). Guidelines for library cooperation: development of academic library consortia. Santa Monica: System Development Corporation.
The International Information & Library Review www.elsevier.com/locate/iilr
Importance of consortia in developing countriesFan Indian scenario Sandeep K. Pathaka,*, Neela Deshpandeb a
STA-III, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Post Bag 4, Ganeshkhind 411 007, Pune, India b Department of Library and Information Science, University of Pune, Pune 411 007, India
Summary This paper draws attention to the importance of consortia and their impact on society, especially in developing countries like India. The present scenario of consortia among university libraries, special libraries and different technical institute libraries in India is discussed. & 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Introduction It is a fact that no libraries even those in developed countries can claim completeness in their collection, and this is more so for libraries in a developing country like India. User expectations are too high especially in academic libraries. The desire to provide users with information to meet their research interests despite a limited budget has always been the prime motivation to librarians. Consortia have existed in India since the early 1900s; though it was termed differently, the idea was the same, as it is understood now. Library cooperation has been going on successfully for decades in other countries like the United Kingdom, which has a strong tradition of sharing services and resources among academic as well as special libraries. Cooperation among libraries has been an international tradition for decades, the phenomenal growth of consortia over the past decade clearly has been fueled by the rapid transformation made possible by using technology. Today, many libraries are already a part of one or more consortia, and those that are not are rapidly taking steps to
*Corresponding author. Tel.: þ 91-20-5691414; fax: þ 91-205690760. E-mail address: [email protected] (S.K. Pathak).
develop these strategic partnerships with other libraries. The consortium movement initially was most pronounced in academic libraries.
Library consortia A consortium is a group of libraries coming together with common interests. One of the libraries or agencies works as coordinator for each publisher, negotiation, legal matters, etc. One definition of Library consortia could be the ‘‘coming together of libraries to achieve a common goal that is beyond what an individual library could achieve on its own’’. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, consortium means a ‘‘temporary cooperation of a number of powers, companies etc. for a common purpose. It is an association of similar type of organization/institution who are engaged for producing and servicing the common things/for providing services for a specific purpose of its users.’’ According to the Cambridge Online Dictionary (Cambridge Online dictionary, http://dictionary. cambridge.org/), a consortium is ‘‘an organization of several businesses or banks joining together as a group for a shared purpose’’. The aim of consortia is to achieve what the members of the group cannot achieve individually. A library consortium is a collective activity to
1057-2317/$ - see front matter & 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.iilr.2003.10.003
ARTICLE IN PRESS 228
provide shared expertise, access to new electronic and print resources, professional development, and new sources of funds.
Consortium and mutual effort The word ‘‘consortium’’ is a good word for libraries, as it combines the past with the present and the future. It is not only derived from Latin, but also retains its Latin form and structure. In modern usage, the word was first adopted in the seventeenth century in relation to the association and fellowship between husband and wife. In law the term still applies to the husband and wife relationship. Although the exact date for the first use of the term ‘‘library consortium’’ is not clear, it can be said that the concept of ‘‘consortium’’ as ‘‘association or partnership’’ has long been a tenet of librarianship, generally encompassed in the terms ‘‘cooperation,’’ ‘‘coordination,’’ and ‘‘collaboration’’ Kopp (1998). Melvil Dewey wrote about ‘‘library co-operation’’, in an issue of the Library Journal that appeared in 1886, and a year earlier E. Mac presented views on ‘‘Co-operation versus competition’’ in the same publication (Kopp, 1998, p. 7). Furthermore, R.B. Downs expressed the futuristic view of library co-operation in a paper ‘‘One for all: a historical sketch of library co-operation, 1930–1970’’ that was included in the 1939 symposium on ‘‘The Library of Tomorrow’’ organized by the ALA. The formation of a consortium was an attractive solution to many institutions since it addressed a number of longstanding processes and problems. The role of consortia in sharing expertise about library automation was another reason for their growth. In the introduction to Guidelines for Library Cooperation, Ruth Patrick provides similar observations on cooperation among libraries to those mentioned earlier. She notes, ‘‘Interlibrary cooperation is not a new phenomenon. Awareness of the vast and growing world literature, in relation to the holdings and resources of any single library, has fostered among librarians as acute appreciation of the interdependence of most of the nation’s libraries and of the requirement for some level of cooperation. Academic libraries have proposed cooperative ventures long before the other parts of their institutions expressed any interest in such ventures, and interlibrary cooperative arrangements have often been one of the more productive areas of inter institutional agreements’’ (Patrick, 1972).
S.K. Pathak, N. Deshpande
Initiatives for library consortia in India Until some years ago, academic libraries could subscribe to a reasonable number of journals in different disciplines. Due to rising costs and unfavorable foreign exchange rates, it has now become impossible for most libraries to be able to subscribe to periodicals, which has caused grave difficulties for university faculty, research students and other users. Indian universities are not able to maintain the subscription even for core journals due to the ever-increasing cost of journal subscriptions in all disciplines. This situation appears to be irreversible because the cost of subscriptions is rising at a higher rate than the increase in grants to the university libraries.
New developments Over the last several years, much of the periodical literature has become accessible electronically over the Internet. At the same time computers, reasonable communication bandwidth and access to the Internet have become available to some university departments. This availability is expected to increase enormously over the next couple of years because of the initiatives undertaken by the University Grants commission (UGC) to provide computer, networking and Internet access to universities and colleges. It should therefore be possible for departments to electronically access periodicals, and a mechanism must be created by which such access is made available to everyone in a robust manner. The following issues involved in the speedy implementation of such access need to be addressed. Variety: The university system encompasses every field of learning and many of different disciplines have to be addressed. There is a broad division between science, mathematics and nonscience subjects. Within science itself there are already large divisions between mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology which may need different approaches. It may be necessary to focus attention on a few areas, to implement an esubscriptions scheme for them, and then to use the expertise gained to address other subjects. Cost: In physics, some literature which is more than 2 years old is electronically available completely free of charge. More recent literature is also available free in the form of electronic preprint services, but a subscription has to be paid to electronically access published literature less
ARTICLE IN PRESS Importance of consortia in developing countries
than 2 years old. The situation is different in the areas of chemistry, biology and other science subjects.
UGC/INFLIBNET Initiative The University Grants Commission (UGC) is a statutory organization established by an act of Parliament in 1956. This is a national body for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of university education. The UGC serves as a vital link between the Union and state governments and the institution of higher learning. In addition to its role of giving grants to universities and colleges, the University Grants Commission also advises central and state Governments on the measures necessary for the improvement of university education (University Grant Commission, http://www.ugc.ac.in/). At the present time, the cost of e-subscriptions is often comparable to the cost of printed versions of the periodicals, but it is possible that large discounts can be obtained for bulk subscriptions. It may be possible here to treat the entire Indian university community as a single structure and for access to be made available to everyone through a single subscription. The UGC has taken up this big task called the UGC-INFONET, which seeks to provide high-speed Internet connections, electronic access to professional literature, and the development of multimedia content to supplement conventional learning and teaching.
INFLIBNET The Information and Library Network Centre is an autonomous Inter-University Centre (IUC) of the University Grants Commission (UGC) involved in creating infrastructure for sharing information among academic and research and development institutions (INFLIBNET Centre, http://www.inflibnet.ac.in/). INFLIBNET/UGC through its one point program is trying to provide access to e-subscription to all-important journals for the entire university community. For this purpose an expert committee has been setup by UGC for the selection of core journals in different disciplines and negotiation with different publishers. This committee also has to make decisions on some of the important databases for e-subscription under UGC/INFLIBNET. The committee is also working on the possibility of having a gateway portal through which one can search and get links to a subscribed title. The gateway portals play an important role as they give unique access to more than one publisher
229
(like one-stop shopping) from one particular site to avoid duplication of the search for each publisher. These portals play a very important role by providing access to the table of contents, abstracts to the major collections, and links to full-text articles of the subscribed titles. Some of these portals also provide the possibility of alerting services so that the research can define the set of subject areas and can keep getting email alerts on the titles of interest.
Indian Digital Library in Engineering Science and Technology (INDEST) The INDEST consortium was set up by the Ministry of HRD for 38 institutions in the area of technology and applied sciences. The major institutions covered under this consortium are all IIT’s, IISc, REC’s, IIM’s, etc., mostly covered under AICTE. The Ministry will meet the expenditure. However, this consortium allows other institutions with similar objectives to join together for getting the better pricing for the databases being subscribed.
FORSA libraries consortia The Forum for Resource Sharing in Astronomy (FORSA) came into existence in the year 1982, to aid in the sharing the resources available in astronomy libraries in the country. Members of FORSA are the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUCAA), the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Raman Research Institute (RRI), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Nizamiah Observatory (NO) and State Observatory, Nainital. In this consortium, subscription for both paper and electronic format are paid through the supplier. The agreement is meant for only astronomy journals published by a particular publisher. As per this agreement, each member maintains its own print subscriptions and with an additional 12% of its print subscription can access the journals subscribed by other libraries electronically Pathak (2002). The entire negotiation was based on the number of the print journals. It is a win–win situation for both the members and the publisher in terms of decreased cost for electronic access for members and a greater number of journals at the same price. The FORSA consortium recently concluded a consortium deal to access the journal Nature and has worked out a consortium deal for the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).
ARTICLE IN PRESS 230
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) consortia The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), established in 1942, is India’s largest research and development organization. It has 40 laboratories spread over the length and breadth of the country. More than 22,000 persons work in various laboratories and institutions of CSIR. CSIR contributes significantly to the development of highly qualified science and technology manpower at the national level through research fellowships, research associateships, and extramural research grants (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, http://www.csir.res.in/). The main objective of CSIR consortia is to strengthen CSIR library resources by pooling, sharing and providing electronic access, international databases and in-house information services to scholars and scientists of CSIR laboratories. CSIR is also going to provide access to Elsevier w-journals to all CSIR laboratories under the CSIR consortium.
Library consortium at the international level The library consortia around the world are organized along many different lines. They range from informal gatherings of librarians for sharing information with each other and promoting a united front to more formally organized operations, either sponsored by a single member institution or owned by all member institutions through a separate incorporated body.
International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) is an informal organization that began meeting in 1997. Comprised of about 60 library consortia in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Israel, and Australia, the Coalition represents over 5000 member libraries worldwide. The Coalition primarily serves higher education institutions by facilitating discussion among its members on issues of common interest. ICOLC conducts meetings to keep its members informed about new electronic information resources, pricing practices of electronic providers and vendors, and other issues of importance to consortium directors and their governing boards. These meetings also provide a forum for consortia representatives to meet with the infor-
S.K. Pathak, N. Deshpande
mation provider community, discuss their products, and engage in a dialog with Coalition members about issues of mutual concern. The ICOLC also maintains lists and web pages for the benefit of its members (International Coalition for Library consortia, http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/statement.html/). The following list represents a few examples of the range of library consortia within the academic library community. Arizona University Libraries Consortium [http:// www.library.yale.edu/consortia/AULC.html][USA]: AULC is a voluntary alliance of six university libraries situated in close proximity in Arizona. Primary functions are collections sharing, electronic content licensing and interlibrary loan/document delivery. A major function is the collective purchase of electronic information. Cape Library Cooperative [http://www.chec.ac.za/Academic/Calico/index.htm], [South Africa]. CALICO was established in 1992 and is a project within an incorporated body, the Adamaster Trust. The Trust is owned by the parent universities, which are all located in the Cape region of South Africa. The vision of CALICO is to promote information literacy and economic development in the Western Cape by providing information to users in a form they want, when and where they need it. Consortium of Academic Libraries in Manchester [http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/CALIM. html], [United Kingdom]. CALIM was established in 1992 as an alliance of five university libraries in the Manchester region. The aim is to reduce duplication through a common technical platform, collaboration in the delivery of information, standardization of user services, and joint staff development. Missouri Research Consortium of Libraries [http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/MIRACL. html], [United States]. This new consortium is comprised of six university libraries in close proximity. It supports reciprocal borrowing and interlibrary lending and a union catalogue linked to the individual library systems. Washington Research Library Consortium [http://www.wrlc.org], [United States]. One of the more closely integrated consortia in the USA. WRLC was founded in 1987. The Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) is a regional resource-sharing organization established by several universities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area to expand and enhance the information resources available to their students and faculty. Membership is comprised of seven universities. The existence of consortia has enhanced the provision of information services as libraries have shared their resources and costs of developing
ARTICLE IN PRESS Importance of consortia in developing countries
electronic library resources and, because of this, libraries have reduced spending by relying on each other’s collection strengths and interlibrary lending. In recent years, libraries have realized that there is an advantage in developing a common strategy and joined a consortium.
Conclusion Library consortia in developing countries expect further subsidies for journal subscriptions, free online access with print subscriptions, electronic access at lower cost than print, and alternative business models. Enhanced communication and interaction, special short-term training programs, and increased funding for librarians from developing countries to attend international conferences are also expected. International library associations can also extend their help with these. A consortium plays a vital role, especially in developing countries such as India, and the success of consortia very much depends on the members of consortia. The published literature and the discussion above give every indication that libraries will continue to form consortia. The library consortium,
231
on the basis of strength of numbers of institutions, offers strong and healthy business growth opportunities to the electronic publishers and attracts the best possible price and terms of agreement. This creates a win–win situation for both the members and the publisher in terms of the decreased cost for electronic access to members and an increased volume of sales for the publisher. Publishers, consortia, and aggregators have barely begun the process of learning how to work together. It is in our interest to work together if we believe there is value in the roles we play or that the scholarly community will be worse off for our absence.
References Kopp, J. (1998). Library consortia and information technology: The past, the present, the promise. Information Technology and Libraries, 17(1), 7–12. Pathak, S. K. (2002). Role of electronic journals in astronomy and astrophysics libraries in India: An overview of IUCAA Library. XX IASLIC National Seminar, Patiala, (pp. 187–192). Patrick, R. J. (1972). Guidelines for library cooperation: development of academic library consortia. Santa Monica: System Development Corporation.