Activities which can be pursued by a consortium:

Resource sharing

Identification of special collections

Notification of only known copies in system prior to discarding

Mini-collection loans (e.g., relocating school resources for summer to other libraries

Sharing professional expertise

Negotiation of group pricing

Grant writing

Relocation of periodical back files due to

1. lack of usage
2. shortage of space
3. availability via electronic means or commercial document delivery

Shifting of group of resources due to

1. lack of demand
2. curriculum revision (e.g., home economics department > family and consumer science)

Reduction o overlap

Cooperative collection assessment project

1. purpose: data needed to

1. support a grant
2. obtain funds from local businesses
3. improve a particular area

1. necessary precondition: agreement regarding definitions of the collection codes to

1. current collection (CC)
2. acquisitions commitment (AC)
3. goal level (GL) of subject field under review

1. ALA conspectus 0-5 codes can be used, but will require discussion in order to

Clarify the interpretations of each definition

2. key points for discussion:

1. identification of strong subject collections which are needed and used

(where CC equals or is close to GL), indicating a collection which may

be relied upon by others for occasional needs

2. identification of strong subject collections which are not needed or used

(where CC is higher than GL) indicating a collection of resources that

might be better utilized if relocated to another library

3. identification of weak collections which should be stronge (where CC is

lower than GL), indicating libraries which need to reallocate budget funds

4. age and quality of the collections

--the size of a collection can be deceiving

--a large collection may be very old and never weeded

5. how collections meet or do not meet curriculum or patron needs from usage

data, ILL study, or log of unfilled requests, possibly indicating new or emrging

topics being requested for which library professional need to seek materials

Identification of collecting priorities

1. if all libraries in the consortium are school libraries, it is likely that most of the

1. reason: curricula presently subject-driven and dictated by each state government
2. with the trend toward outcome or performance-based education, however,

demonstrable skills are becoming the standards for learning, not specific content

3. in the future, subject cotent taught in schools will be more diversified, resulting

in a broader assortment of library materials

4. by being able to identify theareas of high collecting intensity and quality, school

1. as collections are evaluated, collecting roles should be selected and agreed upon

1. a primary collector is a library willing to state intent to maintain both collection

level and acquisition commitment in a particular subject area at an intensity

agreed upon by participants with the understanding that other libraries statewide

will depend on this subject strength as backup for their own collections

2. a secondary collector is defined as a library with strength developed in a

Purpose, goal, or mission statement

Membership composition, including how to join and how to terminate membership

Leadership of the consortium, including

1. offices
2. selection and transition
3. duties
4. consortium's relationship with the state library and other library agencies

Financial administration, including membership fees, if applicable

Ownership, compilation, quality control, and use of the union catalog of holdings,

including how to add, change, and delete records

Policies related to resource sharing and interlibrary loan, including maintenance

of records and statistics which may be collected

Attendance requirements at meetings and training sessions organized by the

consortium

How changes and restructuring of the consortium will be handled

Other issues related to cooperative collection activities

Consequences of unfulfilled commmitments

Who must endorse the policy (e.g., library professional, administrator, governing

agency) and how often it will be updated

 

require protocols to guarantee success

Primary goal: to reduce heavy borrowing from libraries with large, quality collections

ACCESS Pennsylvania project established a model for borrowing protocols:

1. school libraries (SLs) borrow first from other SLs in their consortium (a regional

area

2. if the item isn't available from an SL in the consortium, borrow from a public library

(PL) in the consortium

3. if the item is not available from a PL in the consortium, borrow from an academic

(AC) or special library (SP) in the consortium

4. if the item is not available in the consortium, borrow first from the closest SL in the

state

5. if the item is not available from an SL, borrow it from the closest PL in the state
6. if the item is not available from a PL, borrow it from the closest AC or SP in the

A regional, multi-type consortium has been formed primarily to create a shared bibliographic

utility. The member libraries recognize the need for resource sharing and see this as a first

step.

Goal: The consortium is committed to providing access to the regional library collections of

the county to increase the breadth and depth of information and library resources available to

its patrons.

Objectives:

1. to create an electronic union database of library holdings in the county
2. to ensure patron access to the union catalog for the location of specific, needed resources
3. to establish interlibrary loan procedures
4. to establish an effective system for the communication of interlibrary loan requests
5. to establish an effective delivery system for both physical items and photocopies

A group of school libraries in a region form a consortium to improve access to resources

other than the book collections avalable from the statewide union catalog in which they

participate. Most of them know each other from having worked out local interlibrary loan

procedures and delivery systems in the past.

Goal: The purpose of the consortium is to improve access to all information resources

collections in member libraries and make available additional electronic resources for

students and staff.

Objectives:

1. to create a union list of serials and implement a system for providing copies of periodical

articles to fill patron requests

2. to post discarded materials of potential collecting interest to other school libraries on

the regional electronic mail system

3. to create and share Internet "bookmark" disks with Web sites of educational information

as related to school curricular topics

4. to select and negotiate group pricing for a full-text periodical index available via the

A mature consortium within one county consists of multi-type libraries which have utilized and

maintained a shared, online union catalog of books, periodicals, and audiovisuals. ILL is

efficient and cost-effective. The library professionals know each other from frequent

professional meetings and have collaborated on other projects, including grant projects.

Goal: The consortium is dedicated to the corrdinated and collaborative management

of their combined collections to expand the availability of existing resources and to plan

for and acquire future needed resources for the users of the libraries.

Objectives:

1. to investigate and implement a methodology to assess library collections to determine

how they meet patron and community needs

2. to reduce duplication of low-use, non-core resources
3. to seek private business or grant funds to assist in the collection assessment plan so

that consortium-level reports can be produced

4. to identify special and unique collections within member libraries