Emerald | Library Consortium Management: An International Journal

A plan for the establishment of a library network or consortium for Swaziland: Preliminary investigations and formulations

Brimah Jalloh — 2000-12-01 00:00:00.0

Abstract

Libraries and Information Services (LIS) are being transformed by technology; consequently, LIS are having to adapt to meet their users’ changing needs and growing expectations. Included among the resource-sharing initiatives conceived by libraries in Swaziland is the creation of a computerised network or consortium of all LIS. Reports on the preliminary investigations and formulations carried out to assess the feasibility or viability of such a network. Evaluates the existing resources and facilities, affirms and confirms the perceived need for resource sharing and library networking, establishes present obstacles for library cooperation, and proposes a scheme or framework within which the network can be achieved for optimum use.

COBISS: National Union Catalogue Online bibliography and gateway to other resources

Marta Seljak, Tomazo Seljak — 2000-12-01 00:00:00.0

Abstract

In 1987, a shared cataloguing system as the common basis for the library information system of the former Yugoslavia was designed. Before Yugoslavia’s disintegration in 1991, the shared cataloguing system was renamed COBISS – the Co-operative Online Bibliographic System & Services. It later became the synonym for the library information system of Slovenia. Today it connects over 220 Slovenian libraries. It provides the libraries with conditions necessary for shared cataloguing at a national level, including bibliographies and the automation of local functions. COBISS/OPAC enables the users to access information sources in the wider Internet environment. While COBISS software is used by some of the libraries in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, in Bosnia and Herzogovina too, COBISS/BIH, an independent co-operative library system, was established in 1998. The COBISS system is an example of how to develop an efficient co-operative library system as one of the vital segments of the information society in an environment primarily occupied with current problems of transition.

Towards a new paradigm of resource sharing The partnership between a mirror site and consortium in Taiwan

Ya-ning Chen — 2000-12-01 00:00:00.0

Abstract

It is a tradition in libraries to offer scholarly materials for supporting research and education. In the digital age, it becomes both a challenging issue and an opportunity for libraries to provide electronic resources ofscholarly materials in networked environments. Owing to slow network traffic speed and traffic jams resulting from connection between the Internet and the Taiwan Academic Network, Academia Sinica has introduced a great number of electronic databases to its end users by applying mirroring technology. Academia Sinica also cooperates with other organisations and consortia in Taiwan to set up a new resource sharing paradigm for libraries. This case has so far proven to be a workable and practical solution with consortia’s support and coordination. Consequently the information providers and agents also get the expected profit under reasonable, affordable, and profitable principles.