Managing Electronic Resources through Library Consortia Examples from INDEST-AICTE Consortium Jagdish Arora Librarian & National Coordinator INDEST-AICTE.
Aggregators: NetLibrary; E-brary, 24x7; Springer, Wiley, Elsevier, T & F and othersHongkong University Library has access to 1 million e-books + 5,000 Online Databases, etc.
Resource selection for consortia purchase requires considerable care, effort and judicious involvement of the members.
Well-established multi-disciplinary resources with broad coverage were preferred over highly specialized sources targeted for specialists.
Selections were made on their usage / suitability to their respective institutions, e.g. Proquest Science for category I & II institutions while Web of Science for category I institutions.
Requirement of maintenance of print subscription; if yes, is cap on increase in print subscription offered?
It is important to ensure that all issues concerning consortia licensing of e-content that go into publisher / vendors licensing agreements are reviewed and understood thoroughly by the consortia negotiation committee and the agreement signing authorities.
Develop a checklist of must-be-present terms and not-at-all-agreeable clauses, to avoid delay in executing the licensing contracts.
ICOLC site provides is a very useful reference point in understanding the recommended practices.
Ensure that all resources get equal and adequate attention, and the newer resources receive greater attention.
Establish Communication Amongst MembersCommunication amongst members of a consortium is considered its lifeline.
Effective communication motivates members to cooperate, commit to the cause of consortium and align members toward a shared vision.
Communication is necessary to link each member with the practices of the consortium and to involve them at policy and operational level as a team.
Proper training would make library staff more competent enabling them to provide qualitative services.
On-the-job training programmes are better for benefits users but it also solve localized technological problems that can be solved with the availability of experts at the time of imparting training.
Imparting training to members of consortium is a decentralized activity in case of INDEST-AICTE Consortium.
Technology Support to Member InstitutionsProvide help to member libraries to select technological alternatives available in the market place.
All libraries invariably require consultation and expert advice in implementing new technologies.
The consortium, with its collective expertise, can help libraries to select technologies based on their requirement ensuring use of open system, standards and interoperability of library systems and digital archives.
Development and deployment of federated search engines is a crucial requirement as the e-resource base increases in the libraries acquired either through consortia initiatives or through local library budgets.
Copyright and IPR Issue All consortium members including potential users as well as librarians should be sensitized on issues of licenses and agreements that consortium signs with the publishers.
Users need to be told what, as an authorized user, they are allowed and what they are not allowed. While most of the publishers allow inter-library loan, electronic delivery of articles are not allowed.
Server-end problems (rare)Client-end problems (more often): cookies, IP Addresses, sites blocked, virus problems, etc.
Authorization and Authentication Mechanisms: Proxy, Athens login & Shibboleth, etc.
For operational cost of the Consortium.
Benefit of Consortia-based Subscription is passed on to other educational institutions. These institutions may subscribe on their own. 503 institutions have already joined the Consortium.
The committee may look-up for other resources on one-time payment and perpetual access basis.
Authors deposits a soft copies of their publications and associated metadata into institutional archive in their respective institutions.
Trigger stronger research and academic culture in member institutions.