What Does Cooperation in Libraries Mean? Tools and Pitfalls in Creating Successful Resource Sharing and Collections Agreements, a program sponsored by the STARS/CODES Cooperative Collection Development Committee, was held on Sunday, June 26th. The program was very successful, with fifty-seven in attendance. Presenters Lars Leon and Carol Kochan talked about the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA) cooperative experience in resource sharing; Leslie Horner Button addressed cooperative collection building within the Boston Library Consortium and the Five Colleges; and Kristine Hammerstrand spoke about the (Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois) CARLI consortium experience.
At the Committee’s meeting at ALA, members brainstormed on possible ideas for a program at ALA in 2013. Ideas included:
- Academic/Public libraries: cooperation and complementarities
- Purchase on Demand
- Acquisition/ILL department mergers
- Purchasing cooperatives in public libraries
- Statewide purchase programs (e-resources)
- Distributed collections
- ILL of e-books
The group also discussed developing the Committee’s website and increased use of ALA Connect.
Kathy Leigh and Yem Fong are concluding their service as Co-Chairs and committee members. Sydney Thompson has been appointed as the STARS Co-Chair for the coming year.
Kathryn Leigh, Outgoing Chair
kathrynr@library.umass.edu