Promoting resource sharing through consortia: a case study of Shanghai Library

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to review the relationship between Shanghai Library and consortia in China and around the world, and examine the effect those relationships have had upon the library's resource sharing services. Design/methodology/approach -This paper uses a case study approach. Findings -Library consortia can improve and enhance interlibrary loan and document delivery services by introducing those services to new users, broadening the pool of materials available for resource sharing, and increasing the requisite skill sets of ILL practitioners. Originality/value -Library consortia are a relatively recent phenomenon in China. This paper examines the experiences of the first Chinese library to loan its collections internationally through OCLC WorldCat or enter into the first Sino-German document delivery agreement.

Interlending and document supply: a review of the recent literature: 84

“…Demand has been encouragingin one month alone reaching 2,612. The author is confident that the spirit of co-operation is developing well within the Chinese library community (Chen, 2013).…”

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

“…(Chen, 2012). (Chen, 2013). This fledgling utilization of ILL reflects university priorities where even graduate students may not be required to conduct original research but only to write reports on assigned books.…”

“…The urge to share collections through interlibrary loan, so fundamental to research in the West and in Hong Kong, has not yet become widespread in China except at a local level (Yao and Zeng, 2012). Many libraries decline to take part in inter-library loan, with the Shanghai Municipal Library far and away the leader in inter-library lending (Chen, 2013), and university libraries concentrating on borrowing or lending only among other universities within their own city limits. The forging of "strategic alliances" for ILL has not taken root at a national level.…”

Promoting resource sharing through consortia: a case study of Shanghai Library

“…By November 2009, China Direct was fully embedded with Subito and providing direct retrieval and delivery of Chinese documents, thus becoming the first case of Sino‐German resource sharing services. Through their participation in Subito, the Chinese libraries have gained greater visibility in Germany and other regions (Chen and Lei, 2012). As a result of this increased visibility, the demand for document delivery services from China Direct is increasing year by year (as shown by Figure 1), which is in stark contrast with the yearly decrease in document delivery demand experienced by Subito in recent years.…”

“…In the decade since, especially in the last two years, the Shanghai Library's document supply and interlibrary loan services have achieved great progress. In 2003, the number of documents supplied was less than 5,000, but exceeded 20,000 by 2008 (Chen and Lei, 2012). In September 2010, the library began the interlibrary loan of books and by 2011 the number of documents supplied reached 23,000.…”