“…The main purpose of subsequent collaboration has been automation and the development of networks to enable libraries to improve their services through, for example, the automation of circulation. In the 1960s and 1970s, collaboration within the same geographical region via regional networks enabled libraries to address their mutual needs and share services, such as the union catalogue, inter‐library loans, and group subscriptions to CD‐ROM databases (Schneider, 2002). However, since the 1990s, when the internet became an international information and communication network and its regular use extended beyond the USA, collaborative agreements have begun to be developed on a global basis (Thornton, 2000).…”