Culture, politics and university library consortia in China and the US

Abstract

Purpose – Using three university library consortia China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS) (China), Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA) (USA) and Joint University Librarians Advisory Committee (JULAC) (Hong Kong) as examples, the purpose of this paper is to compare the administration of three university consortia and to explore the cultural, educational and geopolitical forces that produce and shape university library consortia. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology used reviewed published and proprietary documents, interviews and observation. Findings – While the stated objectives are similar, the three vary markedly in size, funding source, and whether programming is a bottom-up decision or emanates from the central government. CALIS was started by China ' s Ministry of Education, who also helps in setting programmatic agendas and appointing managers; GWLA came into existence through the efforts of a small group of university librarians, elect their own board and set programming in response to member needs and suggestions; JULAC, initiated by the university librarians in Hong Kong has some support from the government through bodies charged with the oversight of the universities. The differing educational systems also influence programming, for example in the relative importance member libraries place on preferential inter-library loan. Originality/value – There are few comparative studies of library consortia found in Asia and the US comparative studies of consortia encourage an understanding of the benefits of different consortia models.

Library as a consortium perspective: A systematic literature review

“…Libraries form consortia for various reasons. Among them are to improve the resources available in local, national or international libraries (Perushek and Douglas, 2014), whether these are financial (Ahmed and Suleiman, 2013; Al-Baridi, 2016; Jurczyk and Jacobs, 2014) or technological (Blobaum, 2014), or aiming for synergy among participants, collaboration, scale economies, sharing information and knowledge, increasing brand value, broadening perspectives, team enablement and technical support (Chiwanza and Mutongi, 2018; Jeon and Menicucci, 2017; Wakeling et al, 2018), Therefore, consortia allow resource-sharing to increase capacities to satisfy their users’ information needs (Bhatt, 2013; Maceviciute et al, 2017).…”

Hong Kong JULAC common library card

“…Members collaborate for mutual benefits, work efficiency and cost effectiveness. Various cooperative activities such as Consortium for All Library Resources Acquisitions (Consortiall), Hong Kong Chinese Authority Name Project, Hong Kong Monograph Acquisitions Consortium, Rapid Inter-Library Loans and Hong Kong Academic Library Link (HKALL) are supported by different JULAC committees and a full-time project manager whose salary is being shared by the member libraries (Perushek and Douglas, 2014).…”

“…Members collaborate for mutual benefits, work efficiency and cost effectiveness. Various cooperative activities such as Consortium for All Library Resources Acquisitions (Consortiall), Hong Kong Chinese Authority Name Project (HKCAN), Hong Kong Monograph Acquisitions Consortium (HKMAC), Rapid Inter-Library Loans and Hong Kong Academic Library Link (HKALL) are supported by different JULAC committees and a full-time project manager whose salary is being shared by the member libraries (Perushek and Douglas, 2014 About JULAC Common Library Card HKALL and JULAC Common Library Card (JULAC Card) are two major projects supported by JULAC Access Service Committee (JASC) to facilitate reciprocal access to library resources among all member libraries. HKALL is an unmediated user initiated consortial circulation service.…”