200 likes | 303 Vues
Explore consortia building strategies for sustainable access to electronic resources amidst budget challenges and exponential information growth. Learn about pricing models, consortia advantages, and critical success factors.
E N D
Objectives • Examine issues of sustainability, costs and resourcing • Examine consortia building issues • Evaluate possible consortia approaches
Current situation • Continuous price rises of scientific information • Continuous library budget stagnation or cuts • Exponential growth in the production in new scientific information and knowledge • Rapid technological advances
Long-term access and purchase • Electronic resources cost money • Discounts and development funding subsidise these costs • Will the discounts and funding always be available? • Are the interests of publishers and libraries compatible?
Possible solutions • Secure increased funding • Manage demand (cut demand?) • Maximise leverage of existing funds • Maximise effectiveness of existing resources • Consortia
Secure increased funding • Demonstrate demand, usage, and effectiveness • Outcomes of access—increased research, quality, etc. • Implications of withdrawn access • Efficiency of resource use • Relationship with institutional strategy and additional criteria
Manage demand • Cut demand for resources? • Unlikely—withdrawing titles is likely to be difficult • Never a popular move
Consortia building • Consortia may be the answer • Building consortia can increase individual library’s economic influence • Electronic resources have changed the business model for publishers and so they have been more approachable to these areas • But they do largely rely on the use of funds • Development of philanthropic licensing and development funding
Consortia advantages • Stronger position in negotiation • Better prices • More journals accessible • Shared expertise • Hans Geleijnse • http://www.lib.helsinki.fi/finelib/geleijnse/index.htm
Consortia disadvantages • Time consuming • Difficult to share costs in a proper way • Libraries have to pay for journals they don’t need • Hans Geleijnse • http://www.lib.helsinki.fi/finelib/geleijnse/index.htm
Different kinds of consortia • Local • A small number of institutions with specialist needs • Regional • Institutions within a particular region work together • National • Small countries (geographically or in terms of institutional numbers) • International • Potential with many small countries (as defined above) • Subject specific • Cooperation on single or related disciplines, national or international scope
Critical factors in successful consortia • Make a legal entity • Define decision making • Funding arrangements should be understood and agreed by all parties • Appropriate technical and information expertise • Partnership • Based on presentation by Roland Dietz, Elsevier Science
Pricing models • Electronic publishing is fundamentally different from traditional publishing • Common pricing models for e-resources • FTE (full-time equivalent) discount model • Weighted FTE discount • Number of participating institutions • Print plus • Simultaneous users license
Steps to setting up consortia • Define what the aims and objectives of the consortia are • Establish the profile and membership • Agree effective and reliable coordinators (institutional and individual) • Agree terms of reference • Agree the legal framework • Agree costs and cost sharing
Activity areas • Bylaws • Bylaws often indicate the legal status of the consortium, describe committee structures, and outline membership criteria • Memoranda of Understanding • Outline the business relationships between the consortium and the member libraries, including the rights and responsibilities of membership • Resource Sharing Agreements • Describe the "rules of the game" for one of the basic functions of many library consortia: sharing physical library resources • Strategic Plans • Reflect the way a consortium sees itself
Case studies are available at Holland http://www.lib.helsinki.fi/finelib/geleijnse/index.htm India http://www.iiap.ernet.in/library/proc.html Turkey http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla66/papers/117-180e.htm Africa Standing Conference of African University Librarians Western Area (SCAULWA) due to release a report soon
Dutch university libraries • Either a proposal of one of the libraries to start negotiations with a vendor or an initial offer from a vendor/publisher • A small group starts negotiating • The results will be presented to the libraries • A minimum number should agree • No governmental support • Deals with individual vendors/publishers • National licenses sort • Set of “guiding principles” developed
Summary • Electronic resources offer potential solutions to information shortages • Sustainability of licensing fees and costs • Consortia seem to pay off • But significant effort has been put into some consortia and resulted in little • Consortia need to be included in library sector long term strategies