But what is a consortium? They are fairly common all over the country and each consortium agreement is unique to its community and members. A consortium is a coalition between one or more organizations. The organizations join forces to fund ventures that require larger capital resources. There are two models that relate to a library:
* The first is where the collection is housed in one building. Usually the building is owned by one entity, a public or private school, city or university. Valdez has this type of consortium as does San Jose, Calif. Both are joint ventures between the city and a college.
The available collection may be housed in any number of buildings or places. The public and students are able to check out from either collection. The member groups can broaden the collection since there is no need for duplication of materials. The librarians in Valdez and San Jose have described how the public can check out graduate theses or look through current resources on many topics the public library would normally not be able to purchase or justify. The user can do online research without even going to the library for materials and reserve them as desired. Librarians in Valdez and San Jose expressed the feeling that this is a win-win situation. In both cases the city owns the facility and the college pays a yearly fee to cover staffing and operating costs. Collections are purchased separately as each library may have a different need or mission.
In Valdez, the college is part of the University Alaska system, opening the collection up for books on the statewide system. This means that when using the computer catalog you can locate books in other library members of the University of Alaska in addition to books in the Valdez Public Library. Also available are more sophisticated and specialized search engines that are expensive to buy and can only be justified when a large user base pays for it. If every small library tried to purchase these, it would be extremely expensive for their communities.
* The other type of consortium is very common. Doing a “Google” search under “consortium library” brought up over 33 million hits, listing thousands of consortium library sites. In this model, the consortium is a coalition of libraries already established and may cover a large physical area. Anchorage has this with its branch libraries. Another example is the state of Florida that has six multi-type consortiums through the state.
One of these is the Tampa Bay Library Consortium with 93 cooperating libraries that share their database and has existed since 1979. Their members include: six community colleges, three state university system libraries, 25 private academic colleges and universities, four public school systems, 41 public and 14 special libraries.
In 1999 their mission was: “TBLC member libraries see a time when ALL the people of west central Florida will enjoy seamless access to the rich information resources of the region, the State and the world. TBLC will be the bridge connecting all types of libraries in a regional information network.”
The city budget will go up. The council is being responsible in looking at all options to deal with this. The Homer area has many specialty libraries other than the college that students of all interests could benefit from and enjoy. Anchor Point Library, Pratt Museum Library, Islands and Ocean, the law library at the courthouse, the hospital, and public schools. A consortium is a living agreement, a pre-nuptial that is individual to the organizations’ needs and missions. If a consortium is found to be a viable option, each member would need to bring their box of offerings and see how it fits into the big box. Perhaps not all of a collection would be accepted. I believe a consortium is a win-win situation if we come to the table with a can-do attitude so that we can have a excellent library, a college we can be proud of and a community that works together in a positive supportive manner.
Saying that a public library’s collection needs are not compatible with that of a college is not supported by the many consortium libraries. Homer has always boasted of many well educated residents. We have a growing number of educated retired citizens moving here who by the fact of being educated are accustomed to and enjoy reading various subjects and learning about new topics.
Janice Todd served on the Library Advisory board for several years in the 1980s, including as board president. She has lived in Homer since 1979.
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