Discusses libraries' participation in consortia, cooperatives, or networks to help cope with the financial pressures created by more available materials and less money. Reasons for participating are examined, factors to determine the value of belonging are suggested, cost factors are considered, and cooperative collection development is described.…

The continuing problem of the high cost of accessing scientific, technical, and medical (STM) literature haunts both developed and developing economies. Maintaining access to significant research and scholarship at a time when both the volume and price of information have increased nearly three-fold in the last decade requires fresh strategies and…

Describes the Basic Health Sciences Library Network (BHSL), a multistate interlibrary loan network that operates without direct charges to its 460 member libraries or federal or state funding. Loan activity for 1992 resulted in collective savings of $592,672. The BHSL model can be applied to any group using a common locator tool. (Contains 17…

Explains an arrangement organized by the Houston Area Independent School Library Network (HAISLN) that allows secondary school libraries to share the expenses and use of lesser used periodicals through the use of fax machines. Guidelines for the network are described, costs and copyright issues are discussed, and future plans are addressed. (three…

As part of its mission to provide centralized services for the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of scientific and technical information (STI) to support Department of Defense (DoD) research, development, and engineering studies programs, the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) sponsors the Shared Bibliographic Input…

Addresses the inadequacies of traditional methods of library financing and proposes a strategy to be implemented in an environment supported by automation and networks. Publisher pricing of data rather than publications, options for charging library users with debit cards, and the role of regional library networks are discussed. (EAM)

Describes complementary characteristics of computing centers and libraries that could be combined to form the core of information support centers and discusses the possible impact on library processes and services. The use of telecommunications networks to reduce costs and increase efficiency in academic libraries is also examined. (CLB)

This edition focuses on statistical data supplied by Michigan public libraries, public library cooperatives, and those public libraries which serve as regional or subregional outlets for blind and physically handicapped services. Since statistics in Michigan academic libraries are typically collected in odd-numbered years, they are not included…

Wisconsin's Interlibrary Library Loan Task Force was created in 1994 to identify and discuss effective patterns and methods of sharing resources among libraries of all types in Wisconsin and to determine the direction that different organizational levels should take in resource sharing, and to evaluate existing state-wide resource-sharing…

Presents summaries of 12 papers presented at the 1990 Computers in Libraries Conference. Topics discussed include online searching; microcomputer-based serials management; microcomputer-based workstations; online public access catalogs (OPACs); multitype library networking; CD-ROM searches; locally mounted online databases; collection evaluation;…