This article describes and discusses consortia models in Europe. Emphasis is given to those consortia that support content provision and access to electronic information resources in society. Four country cases are introduced as examples of the heterogeneous solutions chosen by the consortia. The main results and impact of the consortia are discussed. International cooperation has played an important role in the development of consortia in Europe. Regional and global collaboration initiatives are also discussed.
The dramatic price increases in journals subscriptions over the past 30 years have undermined the ability of academic libraries to sustain their collections development at the level necessary to support educational and research activities in the institutes they serve. The article describes the foundation of a consortium in order to go some way towards alleviating the problem. Statistics of the use of HEAL-Link are given.
Starting on 1 January 2003, all members of HEAL-Link (Hellenic Academic Libraries Link, that is all academic and most research libraries in Greece) cancelled all subscriptions from 13 major publishers and replaced them with electronic-only access. HEAL-Link was established in 1998 as part of a project funded by the Ministry of Education and EU structural funds. HEAL-Link's aim was to revive the slow fading away of Greek academic libraries due to lack of adequate budgets. It not only managed to survive the termination of its funding in 2002 but also expanded the number of electronic resources it offers to its members.
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