I.R.N. GoudarHead, ICAST

National Aerospace LaboratoriesBangalore – 560 017goudar@css.nal.res.in

Library Consortia Initiatives in India: Best Practices and Issues

NCSINET

National Centre for Science Information

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

4 March 2006

Consortia

• Continuing evolution of cooperation among libraries:“Consortia”.

• Consortia are all about sharing resources and improving access to

information• Consortia are usually formed when two or more institutions realize that working together is more effective than working separately.

• Formal association of a number of organizations, usually in a specific geographical area, with agreed goals and objectives.

Consortium is a Strategic Alliance of Institutions that have

Common Interests

Consortia History

• 1960s: Creation of union catalogs –Library Consortia flourish.

•1970s: Interlibrary loans, joint storage, etc.

•1980s: Automation–Stagnation period.

•1990s: Re-flourishing of Consortia for electronic resources.

•2000s: Consortium of Consortia.

Library Cooperatives

      Inter library lending

     Cooperative acquisition

      Cooperative cataloguing

      Shared library system

      Physical storage facilities

Seminars/Training Programmes

E-Journals Major Players

Primary publishers

Aggregators

Vendors

Document delivery agencies

E-print systems

Consortia Goals

Increase the access base – More e-Journals

Rational utilization of funds - A little more pays a lot

Ensure the continuous subscription

Qualitative resource sharing - Effective document delivery service

Avoid price plus models - Pay for up-front products not for R&D

Improved infrastructure

Enhanced image of the library - Visibility for smaller libraries

Improve existing library services - Boosting professional image

Harness developments in IT - Facilitate building digital libraries

Cost sharing for technical and training support

Increase user base – Access from desktops of users

Consortia Services

      Union catalogues: Books, Journals, Technical Reports, and Conference Procs.

      Shared library systems – Hardware, Software and other infrastructure

      Shared professional expertise – Develop and realize consortia goals

      Human resource development – Training staff and users

      Electronic contents licensing for providing access to

- Bibliographic databases, e-Journals, Full test reports, Conference Proceedings etc.

      Inter Library Lending and Document Delivery

    Electronic content loading – Contents generated by members and acquired on common server.

      Physical storage for archiving – Old back volumes and less used documents.

      Seminar/training programmes – Professional development to serve user community

      Devpt. of enabling technologies – IR systems, Portals and other web interfaces

Evolve standards for techniques, hardware, software and services for the benefit of

consortia members

.

Consortia Models

  Participants Oriented Models

Geographical location linked: Ex: - Bangalore Special Libraries Group

Libraries in the same discipline: Ex: - Aerospace Libraries Group

Libraries belonging to the same parent organization: Ex: - CSIR LICs

Libraries of academic organizations: Ex: - INFLIBNET

Types of Libraries: Single type / Multi type / Specialized

Consortia for avoiding duplicate collection

Consortia for accessing electronic journals

Consortia for training and library workshops

Consortia Models

  Purpose Oriented Models

Consortia Models

Client Oriented Models

Clients according to their educational background: Ex: - Technical, Professional

Clients according to their age:

Ex: - Children, Senior Citizen

Clients according to their interest:

Ex: - sports, game

Consortia Values

Libraries Vs Publishers

Libraries PublishersUsefulnessMembers drivenFull text access Expert vs. Student Lower priceAccessing Internet resourcesCombined purchasing powerSimplify purchase procedureDistribute financial and other riskIncrease participation of membersNo storage & documentation problem Instant AccessQuality of servicesFree flow of informationSharing – ideas, information

Contribution – time, resources

Pricing/EducationUsage ReportingLinking/DeliveryInterface optionsIndexing/FilteringGain credibility with librariesIncreased marketingReduced cost of productionReduced surcharges like mailingLess extra efforts and expenditure for giving access to new customersGet consortium tool

o Gather library informationo Invoice librarieso Products support

Pricing Models

Influencing Factors Publishers Issues Quantum of business Number of consortia members Types of institutions Contract period Number of IP enabled nodes Number of campuses Value added services Rights to archive Perpetual access Training facilities Multi year agreement

Free titles on Internet Free access against print subscription All titles of a publisher for fixed fee Surcharge on print subscription Discounts for electronic journals Capped annual inflation Discounts on non-subscribed titles Access to subject clusters of the journals Protection of current revenue Uncertainty of new subscription

Single point payment

Pricing Models

• No Universally Acceptable E-journals

Pricing and Licensing Models

• Ongoing experimentation

• Negotiation possible

• Charge for content

• Delivery format optional

• Increasingly will be based on usage

Pricing Models in Operation

• Bundled – Free with print

AIP, APS, AMS, Elsevier, Wiley

• Print as base + surcharge on electronic

Premium payments range from10-25%

ACS (20%), OSA (25%)

• Electronic only

Small increase (ACS 105%)

Same price (OSA)

Discount from print (AIP 80%, AMS 90%)

• Totally unbundled – No discount for both

JBC (P- $ 1600, E- $1200, P+E- $ 2800)

• Free e-version only

Charge for print if required

British Medical Journal

Continue…

Pricing Models in Operation

…Continued

• Membership Fee

• Usage based pricing

Concurrent users

Site population

• All titles of publishers with print optional

• Subject clusters

• Pay – per – view

• Free completely – Differently funded

• Extra fee for softwareContinue…

• Extra for value added services

• Consortium discount

Number of sites

• Consortium surcharge

Access to all consortia titles

All titles of publisher

• Subscription to core titles – Rest pay-per-view

• Pricing based on FTE, Concurrent users

Pricing Models in Operation

…Continued

Consortium Taxonomy

Practical

Tactical

Strategic

Staffing Payment

Programs Services Technology

Governance

Mission &

VisionSponsor Funding

Type of Library

Type of Geography

Practical I ssues

Governing board Committees Deposit accounts

Member council Volunteer staff Bill to library

Committees Program Staff Vendor billing

Task forces Support Staff No bills(Full

Central funding)

Interest groups Technology Staff

Governance Staffing Payment

Tactical I ssues

Union catalogsResource sharingPurchase e-resourcesCore collectionsDigital librariesPreservation

Share infrastructureShare systemsOutsourcing servicesDigitizationPortal managementIntellectual propertyManagement

Programs

Technology

Contd …

Tactical I ssues

CatalogingWorkshops, seminarsConsultingOutsourcingTechnical supportPreservationGround deliveryShared storage

Services

Strategic I ssues

Purchasing

EducationFundraisingLobbyingShare technology

GovernmentMulti-governmentMembers only

NationalMulti-stateSingle stateRegional, local

Mission&

Vision

Sponsor

Geography

Contd …

Strategic I ssuesGovernmentGrants, FoundationsDues, Service fees

Membership tiersNo funding(Volunteer)

NationalMulti-state

Single stateRegional, local

Funding

Type of Library

Strong Links make Strong Consortia

Tactical

Consortia Issues

Strategic

Practical

Mission

FundingGeographical

Coverage

Library Types

Programs

Service

Technology Governance

Staffing

Payment

Archiving: Key Issues

–Perpetual access to bibliographic databases–Perpetual access to e-journals–Who does the archiving?

•Consortia, third party–How do we preserve publishers’ interests?–Incorporate archiving terms in agreements–How the data is acquired? –How do we create the access architecture from this data?–Are there software solutions?

Licensing Issues

National Site Licensing

Open Consortia

Walk-in-User’s Rights

Who will sigh MOU

Indian Consortia Initiatives

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together leads towards progress and working together results in success”.

Consortia of IIMs

CSIR Consortia

DAE Initiative

FORSA

INDEST (MHRD)

HELINET of RGUHS

ICICI- Knowledge Park

ISRO Initiative

INFLIBNET Initiative

GE Global Research

MCIT Initiative

• Publisher – Cambridge Scientific Abstracts

• Consortium Leader – NAL

• Open Consortium

• Consortium For Material Science And Aerospace Collection

• 25 - 40% Discount

COMSAC

CSIR Initiative

• 38 Labs

• CoMSAC at NAL

• Leaders: NAL, NCL, CDRI, RRLT, NIO and IMTECH

• NISCAIR – Coordinator

• 11th Five year plan – About Rs. 12 Crores

• Elsevier – 2002

• Springer, AIP, ASME, ASCE, ACS, RSC, Blackwel, CUP, OUP

• > 3200 Titles

• Print base subscription

CSIR Initiative

• Broad based model

- All the Journals to all the labs;

- All the Journals to select labs;

- Select journals to all the labs; and

- Select Journals to Select labs.

• Access

- IP Enabled / Login – Password

- Unlimited users, search, browse, download, print

• Usage Statistics

- Monthly, Journal-wise, IP address, Lab wise,

Session/downloads of abstracts/full texts, etc

o      

CSIR Initiative

• Archival Policy

- For the period of agreement on the prevalent formats on

CD-ROM, DVD, etc

- Retrieval software by publisher for network access

- Higher versions of retrieval/technology at no extra cost

Training

- Trainers-Training Program for LIS Personnel

- Multiple locations, two days minimum

- Course ware 5 copies print + Soft copy

- No extra charge

- Unlimited users, search, browse, download, print

UGC -INFONET Consortia

• Nodal Agency: INFLIBNET Centre

• Funded by UGC

• 100 Universities

• Online only model

• Resources: 18 Publishers/Aggregatotrs – ACS, RSC,

Nature Publishing, AIP, IOP, CUP, APS, BIOSIS,

JSTOR, Springer, Elsevier, Emerald, Annual Reviews

INDEST (Indian Digital Library for

Engineering Science and Technology)

• Set up by MHRD

•Open ended Consortia

• Core members: IISc, IITs, NITs, IIMs

• AICTE Supported members

• Self supported members

• Total 130

• Sources: Science Direct, IEL Online, Springer Verlag’s link, Applied Science & Technology Plus, ABI Inform Complete, ACM Digital Library, ASCE Journals, ASME Journals, COMPENDEX and INSPEC on Ei Village, SciFinder Scholar, MathSciNet, Web of Science, J-Gate and JCCC

INDEST …… Services to Members

• Technology support to members

• Joint archives and storage facility

• Shared Digital Library Project Development

• Shared E-Reference Service

• Common Union Catalog for Books

• Developing shared technology resources and infrastructure like meta search engines, Link Servers, etc

HELINET Consortia

• RGUHS Initiative

• Medical, Dental, Nursing, Physiotherapy, Pharmacy Colleges, etc

• E-only model

• Publishers/ Aggregator Resources: Science Direct, Blackwel, Nature Publishing, Springer, Taylor and Francis, Springer Books, Skolar – MD Books, OVID, Annual Reviews, Benthem Science, CABI Publishing, JCCC

• Funding for sources: Students/College Managements

• University funds for Infrastructure

• Plans to extend the services to the country

Consortium of IIMs

• Initially lead by IIMK

• Their own + Members of INDEST + Individual

• Resources:

- E-journals: Elsevier (Business Mgnt and Accounting – 75, …. Science – 39, Economics and Finance - 76), Blackwell (306), Kluwer (now part of Springer, 37), Emerald (131), Wiley (31), Taylor and Francis (35); IEL Online (219), ACM Digital Library (32 titles and also reports); > 5000 titles from Aggregator EBSCO.

- Bibliographic Databases: About 33 bibliographic databases (in case of IIMB – different numbers for others)) including ABI-Inform, JCCC, ECONLIT, Psycoinfo, Sociofile, INSIGHT ( Corporate Database), CRISINFAC, and GMID ( Global Market Information Database).

- E-Books: Ebrary with access to 4000 titles in case of IIMB.

•

FORSA(Forum for Resource Sharing in

Astronomy)

• Members of FORSA : IIA, IUCAA, NCRA, PRL, RRI, TIFR, Members of FORSA : IIA, IUCAA, NCRA, PRL, RRI, TIFR, JNCASRJNCASR, NO, Bose Inst, ARIES and CASA-, NO, Bose Inst, ARIES and CASA-OU..OU..

Open Model ConsortiumOpen Model Consortium Facilitates e-access to journalsFacilitates e-access to journals Nature-Online, Kluwer, Springer PublishersNature-Online, Kluwer, Springer Publishers

Actively participate in resource sharingActively participate in resource sharing

Document delivery (e-mail, fax and speed post)Document delivery (e-mail, fax and speed post)

Database merging of all libraries holdingsDatabase merging of all libraries holdings

GE-Global ResearchConsortia

• Whitney Knowledge Centre (WKC)

• Sources:

Journals – 100 + Elsevier Journals, 40 + Wiley Journals, ASME IOP, Other Popular Journals/Magazines: Science, Nature etc

Databases - MicroPatent: Full text database of patents, Engineering Village 2: Compnendex, CRC ENGNetBASE, IEL database

E-Books – Knovel, NetLibrary

• Selected sources for 40 GE Centres

• E-Only model after dicontinuation of print subscriptions

DEMO

Their own genesis, geographical spread, reason for the creation, audience to address and governance and administrative structure

Models in Operation:

- Centrally Funded Model: INDEST, UGC – Infonet, and CSIR Consortia

- Open-ended Consortia: FORSA, INDEST and GE-Global Research

- Closed-ended Consortia: IIM and CSIR

- Shared-budget Model: IIM, HELINET and FORSA

Need to sensitise about issues of licenses and agreements

Serious bottleneck - Lack of IT infrastructure

Communication gap between consortia host and participating libraries and publishers

Need to adopt open system, interoperability standards of library systems and digital archives

Usage monitoring based on publishers data

Need for National Consortia

Observations on Indian Consortia

Lack of awareness about consortia benefits

Slow acceptance of e-information by the users.

Difficulties in changing the mind setup of librarians

Maintenance and balancing both physical and digital library

Inadequate funds

Single point payment

Rigid administrative, financial and auditing rules

Problems of defining asset against payment

Consortia Constraints Specific to Indian Libraries

Pay-Per-View not yet acceptable

Uncertainty about the persistence of digital resources.

Lack of infrastructure for accessing electronic sources

Unreliable telecommunication links and insufficient bandwidth

Lack of appropriate bibliographic tools

Lack of trained personnel for handling new technologies

Absence of strong professional association

Big brother attitude

Consortia Constraints Specific to Indian Libraries …Contd

Consortial leaders with a set of common interests (directors, coordinators of consortia)•Founded spontaneously in early 1997 following discussions by a few people at other national meetings•First meeting 2/1997, Missouri, 30 consortia•Meets twice a year•No dues, no staff -- purely a volunteer effort

ICOLC: International Coalition of Library Consortia

Public Web site: <http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia>•Documents are developed by volunteer committees and working groups•Documents are widely distributed

–Statement of Preferred Practices & Update–Guidelines for Statistical Measures of Usage–Privacy Guidelines

ICOLC Documents

National (Indian) Coordination Committee for Consortia

 Goal

To achieve in line with the principle that intellect is an investment and information is as asset, considering both as national property.

NCCC: Objectives1. To evolve suitable guidelines and working documents

to initiate and develop consortia at various levels.2. To work in liaison with Government of India and State

Governments as an influential group to initiate and establish consortia at various levels.

3. To work as a focal point for expertise, experts and resource consolidation (fund and information resources).

4. To work in line with various other councils for resource enrichment and quality control for e-resource acquisition and capitalizing e-services.

5. To work in liaison with school of LIS to build high quality HR and expertise.

6. To establish good collaboration with international organizations

7. To undertake continuing education program for in-service professionals.

8. To establish review committees at regional and state level for evaluation and consolidation of time to time developments in the field.

9. To conduct annual meet to motivate professionals inline with ICOLC and set the trend.

10. To develop experts groups in various specialization fields and super specialization in the field and recognise them at National level.

NCCC to develop Guidelines

• General Guidelines• Governance Guidelines • Management Guidelines• Administrative Guidelines• Operational Guidelines • Access Guidelines • Purchase Guidelines • Pricing Guidelines• Licensing Guidelines • Archiving Guidelines• Evaluation Guidelines• Documentation Guidelines• Guidelines for Statistical Measures• Information Literacy Guidelines

Conclusion: Consortia can …

• be very time consuming, frustrating, and difficultto build and to sustain

but still …

• be a potent social, economic and political force• improve resource sharing among members• help to reduce the unit cost of e-information• help libraries do more collectively than they

could accomplish on their own

Tail Piece

“ Man can live individually, but can survive only collectively. Hence, our challenge is to form a progressive community by balancing the interests of the individual and that of the society. To meet this we need to develop a value system where people accept modest sacrifices for the common good”

From Vedas – As quoted by Mr. Narayanamurthy (IFOSYS)