Models and opportunities for library co‐operation in the Asian region
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120010338810 |
| Pages | 373-384 |
| Published date | 01 October 2000 |
| Date | 01 October 2000 |
| Author | Gary E. Gorman,Rowena Cullen |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
Models and
opportunities for
library co-operation in
the Asian region
Gary E. Gorman and
Rowena Cullen
Introduction
Co-operation is an essential facet of modern
library management in most Western
countries, although as yet libraries in most
Asian countries have not accepted it as
normative. That this sort of activity has come
of age in the West is evident from the fact that
it now has at least one new journal devoted
specifically to it Library Consortium
Management, which first appeared in 1999. It
is part of what constitutes the professionalism
of librarianship: ``that libraries should be able
to work co-operatively to find access to
information in distant collections which is not
available locally is a deeply rooted concept in
librarianship'' (Association of Specialized ...,
1990).
Co-operation occurs at many levels, from
simple interlibrary loan (ILL) services and
reciprocal access for users, to more direct
resource sharing and joint storage facilities, to
co-operative collection development and joint
licensing agreements with vendors and
publishers. These co-operative activities are
becoming increasingly important for service
delivery primarily because of the ever-
expanding availability of electronic data,
improvements in telecommunications and
rising costs associated with the acquisition of
library materials. Network access to online
catalogues, for example, facilitates resource
sharing at the item level; network access to the
electronic documents allows the immediate
location and downloading of sought items.
There is a growing body of evidence that
electronic access begets greater usage of
resources. Sanville, for example, found in the
OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center that the
downloading of articles not only increased
exponentially as the Center became a familiar
part of the users' normal information
landscape but also represented a significant
improvement over the old system of hard
copy article access by means of ILL:
The first 18 months of operation of the
OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center (EJC) is
an exemplary illustration of the dramatic benefits
of expanded access. Patrons have executed over
535,000 article downloads. On average each
Ohio university uses three times more titles than
they previously held in print, and over 50 per
cent of downloaded articles were not available in
print on each campus (Sanville, 1999).
The motivation for co-operation that might lie
embedded in the philosophy of librarianship
goes beyond a statement of principle and
The authors
Gary E. Gorman is Senior Lecturer and Rowena Cullen
is Senior Lecturer and Head of the School of
Communication and Information Management, Victoria
University of Wellington, New Zealand.
Keywords
Libraries, Co-operation,
Resource management, Purchasing techniques, Asia
Abstract
This paper discusses evolving trends in library co-
operation against the backdrop of practices in various
Asian countries. Having first reviewed the rationale for co-
operation and both barriers and positive factors, the
authors then present an overview of various models for
co-operation, a discussion of key features in successful co-
operative ventures and viewpoints on how such ventures
might be managed.
Electronic access
The research register for this journal is available at
http://www.mcbup.com/research_registers/lm.asp
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
http://www.emerald-library.com
373
Library Management
Volume 21 .Number 7 .2000 .pp. 373±384
#MCB University Press .ISSN 0143-5124
To continue reading
Request your trial