28 Academic Library Consortia and Networks – Part II

Kruti T and Jagdish Arora

I. Objectives

This module is divided into two parts. This is the second part of the module that aims to impart knowledge on how to manage e-resources through a library network/consortium. It also describes initiatives taken towards library consortia in India.

II. Learning Outcomes

On completion of this lesson, learners would attain knowledge about managing e-resources through a library consortium that includes selection and procurement of e-resources, negotiation, licensing and agreement, funding, consortia website, usage monitoring and web-based support for trouble- shooting, managing copyright and IPR, etc. They would also study initiatives taken towards library consortia in India.

III. Module Structure

1. Introduction

2. Managing E-resources through a Consortium

2.1 Selection and Procurement of Information Resources

2.2 E-resources Negotiation and Purchasing

2.3 Procurement Policy and Procedures

2.4 Consortia Licensing and Agreements

2.5 Funding

2.6 Promoting Use of E-Resources and Membership of the Consortium

2.6.1 Consortium Web Site

2.6.2 Users Awareness Training Programmes

2.6.3 Specialised Publications

2.6.4 Annual Meets

2.7 Establish Communication amongst Members

2.7.1 Communication at Consortium Level

2.7.2 Communication at Institutional Level

2.8 Usage Monitoring and Web-based Support for Troubleshooting

2.9 Copyright and Issue

2.10 Technology Support to Member Institutions

2.10.1 Federated Search Engines and Web Discovery Tools

2.10.2 OpenURL and Linkresolver

2.10.3 Web 2.0 and Beyond

2.10.4 Mobile Devices

2.10.5 Usage Portal

2.11 Bench Marking Outcomes

2.12 IT and Network Access Infrastructure

2.13 Feedback and Corrections

3. Library Consortia in India

3.1 UGC-INFONET Digital Library Consortium

3.2 INDEST-AICTE Consortium

3.3 National Knowledge Resource Consortium (NKRC)

3.4 MCIT Consortium

3.5 DAE Consortium

3.6 ERMED Consortium

3.7 DeLCON

3.8 CeRA (Consortium for E- resources in Agriculture)

3.9 NLIST

3.10 Forum for Resource Sharing in Astronomy & Astrophysics (FORSA) Consortium

3.11 IIM Consortium

3.12 HELINET

3.13 MoES E-Journal Consortium

4. Summary

5. References

1. Introduction

The emergence of Internet, particularly the World Wide Web (WWW) as a new media of information delivery and the e-content environment is driving the emergence and popularity of newer and more effective models of information access and resource sharing around the world. With this welcome change, libraries are forming consortia of all types and flavours at all levels with an aim to get access to electronic resources for its member institutions at discounted rates of subscription. However, besides purchase of electronic resources, there are several other related activities that a consortium is required to take up to achieve economies of scale and optimal use of electronic resources subscribed by it. Copy right, access on multiple IPs, sustainability and optimum use of electronic resources are the biggest concerns for consortium. Library network / consortium require continuous assessment, collaboration and proper management.

The second part of the module elaborates steps involved in managing e- resources through library network/consortium. It also elaborates on initiatives taken towards library consortia in India. The first part of the module defines library network / consortium and outlines its needs and benefits. It also describes types and models of library consortia, prevalent pricing model offered to the library consortia and services and activities of a library network / consortium beyond licensing of electronic resources.

2. Managing E-resources through a Consortium

Major steps involved in the process of managing e-resources in a consortium are as follows:

2.1 Selection and Procurement of Information Resources

Resource selection for consortia purchase requires considerable care, effort and judicious involvement of the members. A policy framework should be developed which operate as blueprint for the selectors and helps them to ensure uniformity in procedures and appropriate balance in selection of e-resources. The selection of any e-resource is a three-step process, which includes identification/discovery, evaluation and finally the decision. The process map is as follow:

Fig.1: Selection Process

2.2 E-resources Negotiation and Purchasing

Carrying out negotiations with the publishers is one of the most important tasks of a library consortium. It begins when the consortium decides subscription to or purchase of an electronic resource. It is also necessary for consortium to make decisions regarding negotiation policies and specific licensing terms. Before starting negotiation, consortia negotiation committee and agreement signing authorities should thoroughly review RFP submitted by the publisher. The main considerations for consortia-based subscription to electronic resources is pricing and the other important issues include coverage, journals offered, subscription rate, dependency of subscription rates on print subscription, increase in rates of subscription in subsequent years, rates applicable for additional members, rates applicable for additional titles, backfiles, archival access, resource sharing, open access policy, provision of inclusion of associate members prorate basis/ non- calendar year basis subscription, trial access, acceptance of terms and conditions of subscription as per RFP, platform fee in case of cancellation of subscription, etc.

2.3 Procurement Policy and Procedures

The procurement procedures followed by a consortium can be institutional or consortia specific governed by the standards and norms stipulated by the funding agencies or those followed by the parent organizations of the consortium headquarters. If a consortium is formed out of a diverse group of member organizations, evolving a common policy for procurement and management could be a challenging task. Openness, transparency, protection of the interest of all the members and other stakeholders, and respect for fair-trade practices should form the basis for evolving the policies and procedures for consortial purchases.

2.4 Consortia Licensing and Agreements

The business in electronic environment is conducted through licenses and agreements. The publishers use licensing as a legal method for controlling the use of their products and services since technology and legislation are still evolving and the existing copyright provisions are inadequate to tackle access issues. Most e-resource subscriptions require library consortia to execute a license agreement as part of the consortial contract with their publishers or aggregators. It is critically important to ensure that all issues concerning consortia licensing of e-content and particularly the licensing terms that go into publisher/vendors’ licensing agreements are reviewed and understood thoroughly by the consortia negotiation committee and the agreement signing authorities. Since it is practically impossible to enforce all the publishers to agree for a common model of licensing agreement, it is desirable to provide a checklist to the publishers / vendors of “must-be-present terms” and “not-at-all- agreeable clauses” as mentioned below, if any, to avoid delay in execution of licensing contracts.

i. Simultaneous Users: Preferably there should not be any limit on number of simultaneous user on any of the resources subscribed by the Consortium. Unrestricted number of users should be able to access e- resources including e-journals and bibliographic databases at any given time.

ii. Walk-in Users: Walk-in users who are physically present at the subscribing university should also be allowed to use the resources.

iii. Print-independent Subscription: Subscription to e-resources should preferably be print-independent. As such, beneficiary members are free to drop subscription to print copy of journals accessible to them through the Consortium.

iv. Inter Library Loan: Licensee is allowed to fulfil ILL requests from non- authorized users using electronic copy of article downloaded from the licensor’s Web site.

v. Usage Statistics: Publisher is required to submit ‘COUNTER’ compliant usage / statistics on number of downloads (both full-text and abstracts) in a given month, previous month and cumulative for one year.

vi. Inclusion of Additional Titles: The publisher would provide access to new journal titles that are added during the contract period at no additional cost.

vii. Electronic Link: Publisher may provide electronic links to the licensed materials from Licensee’s Web page at journal level or at article level and publisher should provide help in doing so.

viii. Print Copy of Journal: Publisher should provide a print copy of each journal (if agreed in license agreement) to the consortium headquarter.

ix. Protection on Increase of Price: The Publisher would provide protection on increase in price of subscribed resources. The increase should not be more than 5%.

x. Perpetual Access and Archival Rights: In case of termination of the agreement or on the expiry of the agreement, publisher should extend perpetual access to e-resources for the paid period of subscription along with their backfiles offered during the subscription period without charging platform fee. Alternatively, the publisher should provide full-text of e- resources with back volumes (e-journals / e-databases) for each year on prevalent formats, i.e., CD-ROM / DVD-ROM with the retrieval software for access on the network. In case of change in archival technology, the state-of-art archival technology should be made available by the Licensor to subscribers at no extra cost for archival of full-text data of e-journals to higher version of technology.

xi. Awareness and Training: The publisher or its representative should conduct “Users Awareness Programme” on campuses of members at no- charge. The publisher should provide publicity material, brochure, posters and user-support material in both prints as well as on CD form.

xii. E-print Archive: Members should be allowed to download bibliographic records, abstracts and full-text articles published by their faculty, researchers, students and staff from publisher’s site and import them in their local database and Institution Repositories.

xiii. Jurisdiction: The governing law clause of the agreement may become contentious in case licensor and licensee are in different jurisdictions. Agreement should be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of licensee’s jurisdiction.

xiv. Arbitration: All disputes arising under the agreement should be settled under the rules of the international arbitration court by one or more arbitrators in accordance with the said rules.

2.5 Funding

Consortia vary to a great extent in their funding arrangements. Library consortium can be self-funded, funded through grant from the Government, through membership fees, etc. Each consortium funds its different programs and activities differently. Moreover, within consortia there could be different structures for funding different aspects of projects and initiatives. It is desirable that the consortia device innovative ways of generating and managing funding to sustain its activities and projects. The funding models that exists for consortia initiatives in India are as follows:

i. Self-funded Model: The funding requirements is small as most of members focused on cross-sharing which required a small additional sum in the range of 10-15% of the current print spending on the selected resources. Earlier consortia initiatives like FORSA, IIM etc., were self-funded by member libraries from their own resources.

ii. Government-subsidized Model: In this model partial funding is provided by parent institution, e.g. National Knowledge Resource Consortium is funded partly by the CSIR Headquarters, while individual CSIR laboratories pay for the print, CSIR headquarters paid only for the electronic version.

iii. Government-funded Model: The consortium is fully funded by parent institution, e.g. the funding for the UGC-Infonet Digital Library Consortium comes completely from the UGC. This made it possible for the consortium to go for e-only model. The Government funds the INDEST-AICTE Consortium for its e-only subscriptions, however, for print-based models, the Govt. pays for the surcharge for e-access while individual libraries pay for print subscriptions.

iv. Cost-sharing Model: In this model, the central agency promoting the consortium funds for infrastructure and service component of the consortia, the e-journal licensing cost comes from the participating members. HELINET works on a cost-sharing model.

2.6 Promoting Use of E-Resources and Membership of the Consortium

The Consortium needs to take steps to promote usage of subscribed resources amongst the members.

2.6.1 Consortium WebSite

A separate, dedicated website should be maintained which provides detailed information about the Consortium including i) search and browse interface for subscribed journals; ii) Classified index to journals covered under the Consortium; iii) Search interface for member institutions; iv) E-resources Access Management System (E-RAMS) designed to provide access to usage statistics to members and for monitoring their complaints; v) Detailed tutorials on each e-resource; vi) Licensing and fair use of e-resources; vi) Associate membership programmes and information on how to join the Consortium; and vii) Guidelines for the Consortium.

2.6.2 Users Awareness Training Programmes

Users Awareness Training Programmes is a crucial requirement, a consortium has to fulfil to facilitate optimum use of subscribed electronic resources. Training programmes act as a bridge to facilitate better communication amongst members of consortium and find answers to common problems. Such programmes are essential both for the user as well as for the library staff. Such programmes make users competent to conduct their own searches more effectively. The Consortium provides financial assistance to members for conducting one or two-day user awareness programme with an aim to increase usage of various e-resources. These programmes help faculty members, research scholars and students to get acquainted with resources, their features, functionalities and advanced options.

2.6.3 Specialised Publications

The consortium should prepare, design, print and distribute posters, brochures, user’s manual and detailed guideline amongst member institutions for effective and efficient use of electronic resources. Moreover, soft copies of these tutorials should also be made available through the consortium Web site.

2.6.4 Annual Meets

Annual convention should also be organized every year to discuss and deliberate on various issues related to effective use of e-resources.

2.7 Establish Communication amongst Members

Continuous communication amongst members of a consortium is considered its lifeline. Effective communication motivates members to cooperate, commit to the cause of consortium and align members towards a shared vision. Continuous communication is necessary to link each member with the practices of the consortium and to involve them at policy and operational level as a team. Communication amongst member institutions can be promoted at the following two levels:

2.7.1 Communication at Consortium Level

The Consortium is required to keep a close liaison with its members. It requires feedback and information from its members regularly and at times urgently. A mailing list with archives can be put in operation to facilitate communication amongst members. While all technical and administrative contacts of each member institutions should be members of the mailing list by default, other authorized users in member institutions should be able to subscribe to the list on request.

Besides, consortium may hold annual meets and workshop for the benefit of its member institutions. Consortium should keep in constant touch with its member institutions through e-mails, letters, etc.

2.7.2 Communication at Institutional Level

All member institutions may be advised to hold user convention and training programmes in their respective institutions. Local representatives and vendors of the publishers should impart training at institutional level in such training programmes.

2.8 Usage Monitoring and Web-based Support for Troubleshooting

Electronic Resources Access Management System (ERAMS) should be developed that i) helps users to lodge their complaints and offer their comments regarding usage of e-resources; ii) facilitates publishers to record action taken on the complaint; iii) views or tracts status of complaint made by members; iv) facilitates systematic hosting and delivery of statistics of usage of e-resources to members; and v) facilitates users to view IP ranges communicated to the publishers for accessing e-resources.

2.9 Copyright and Issue

Several publishers block access to their e-resources in case of excessive or systematic download of articles causing interruption in access to their e- resources. It is, therefore, imperative that the users as well as librarians are sensitized on issues of licenses and agreements that consortium signs with the publishers. Users need to be told what, as authorized users, they are allowed and what they are not allowed. While most of the publishers allow inter-library loan, electronic delivery of articles are not allowed. Similarly, while there is no limit on number of articles that can be downloaded from a resource, systematic downloading of articles is not allowed. Issues of copyright and license agreements can be addressed in detail on the Consortium web site. The issue of copyright and licensing issues can also be addressed during the users awareness programme to ensure un-interrupted access to e-resources.

2.10 Technology Support to Member Institutions

It is a major challenge for libraries to select from several technological alternatives that are now available in the market place. All libraries invariably require consultation and expert advice in implementing new technologies. The consortium, with its collective expertise, can help libraries to select technologies based on their requirement ensuring use of open system, standards and interoperability of library systems and digital archives. Following are some important technological solutions where in member institutions may require support of a library consortium.

2.10.1 Federated Search Engines and Web Discovery Tools

The users are increasingly demanding for implementing a common search interface for all e-resources across the libraries in the consortium. Development and deployment of federated search engines and Web Discovery Tools becomes a crucial requirement to provide seamless and coherent access to all resources that the library subscribes to as well as those that can be accessed through open access channels.

2.10.2 OpenURL and Link resolver

OpenURL is a versatile linking scheme that uses metadata for generating dynamic link by passing metadata about a resource to a resolver program. OpenURL link allows access to multiple information services from multiple resources, including full-text repositories, abstracting, indexing, and citation databases, online library catalogues, document delivery service and other web resources and services. Consortium can setup a resolution server with information on full-text journals accessible to the member with their link as well as link to local print holdings and other local services.

2.10.3 Web 2.0 and Beyond

With the wider community adoption of social media and other Web 2.0 applications, librarians must embrace new technologies that assist users and promote libraries to be in the forefront of changing information technology scenario. The consortium can also provide web 2.0 services such as RSS Feeds which facilitates users to read the current contents of desired journals subscribed under the Consortium.

2.10.4 Mobile Devices

Since mobile devices are more or less ubiquitous among library users it is becoming increasingly crucial to ensure that online resources such as e-book platforms, federated search tools, library catalogues and library web pages are compatible to mobile devices.

2.10.5 Usage Portal

The consortium can either develop or help libraries to develop Usage Portal for automatic harvest of usage data directly from publisher’s website and provide title level COUNTER reports to member institutions by using Standardized Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI) Protocol. The consortia can manage usage data in easier way by integrating usage data from various sources into a single repository.

2.11 Bench Marking Outcomes

Providing access to e-resources to the faculty and researchers is not a purpose in itself. It is only a means to trigger a stronger research and academic culture in the institutions recipient of this benefit. Science Citation Index (SCI), Social Science citation Index (SSCI) and Arts and Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) are considered to be a filtering mechanism that indexes qualitative research output based on citations received by it. All three indices can also be searched to find-out qualitative productivity on institutions. The source articles appeared in these indices for all member institutions can serve as a yardstick to measure their current research output which can then be compared with their output after five years to measure the impact of e-resources provided through the Consortium on the research productivity over a period of five years.

However, the number of publications in all the three indices cannot be considered as sole criteria for measuring productivity of institutions. Other criteria that may also be considered include: patents, research projects, research reports, honours and awards, etc.

2.12 IT and Network Access Infrastructure

Networks are basic necessity for services like electronic document delivery, e- journals and a variety of web-based facilities that provide access to a wide range of other databases and information resources. Availability of IT and Internet access infrastructure is a crucial requirement at institutional level for the members of a consortium. From the access point of view, most electronic resources are accessible on the Internet from the web sites of their respective publishers. Member institutions are expected to have Internet-enabled PCs accessible to the faculty and researchers in the Institute and sufficient connectivity to the Internet to make optimal use of e-resources accessible to them. It is convenient for the libraries to access e-resources from the publisher’s site without botheration of hosting and maintaining high-end IT infrastructures like content servers, expensive software resources, etc.

However, an Intranet mode for local hosting of contents can also be adopted with agreement of publisher specially where security is a serious concern, or where organizations can afford to invest in a completely local digital library infrastructure. Such institutions qualify to be consortium’s nodal centre or hub. Consortium can assign these centres the responsibility for developing and providing specialized services like developing and hosting union catalogues, access gateways, etc.

2.13 Feedback and Corrections

Feedback and correction mechanism is essential for a consortium. This activity involves closer interaction with the users, evaluation and consolidation of user- feedback on the usage of subscribed resources. Resources subscribed by the consortium need to be reviewed periodically. It is crucial to evaluate all subscription critically considering the fact that consortium subscribes to the multiple number of resources for its members. A resource need not be continued just because it was subscribed after evaluation. Real test of a resource is the extent of its usage. Moreover, a resource useful to one set on institutions may not be useful for the other set of institutions.

3. Library Consortia in India

Major new genera of library consortium in India are described briefly here.

3.1 UGC-INFONET Digital Library Consortium (http://www.inflibnt.ac.in/econ)

The UGC-INFONET Digital Library Consortium was launched by A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the then President of India, in December 2003. The consortium provides differential access to e-resources to 206 universities and 204 institutions covered under associate membership programme. These e-resources covers almost all subject disciplines including arts, humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, chemical sciences, life sciences, computer sciences, mathematics, statistics, etc. It provides current as well as archival access to more than 8,500 core and peer reviewed electronic journals and ten bibliographic databases from 28 publishers, scholarly societies and aggregators, including university presses in different disciplines.

3.2 INDEST-AICTE Consortium (http://paniit.iitd.ac.in/indest)

The Indian National Digital Library in Engineering Sciences and Technology (INDEST) Consortium was set-up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in year 2003 to provide access to selected electronic journals and databases to technical institutions including IISc, IITs, NITs, IIMs and a few other centrally-funded Government institutions. It provides differential access to 20748 peer reviewed journals and 10 bibliographical databases to its member institutions to 65 core member institutions.

3.3 National Knowledge Resource Consortium (NKRC) (http://nkrc.niscair.res.in)

The National Knowledge Resource Consortium (NKRC), established in year 2009, is a network of libraries and information centres of 39 CSIR and 24 DST institutes. NKRC’s origin goes back to the year 2001, when the CSIR set up the CSIR Electronic Journals Consortium to provide access to 1200 odd journals of Elsevier Science to all its users. Over a period of time, the Consortium not only grew in terms of the number of resources but also in terms of the number of users as more like-minded institutes evinced interest to join the Consortium. Currently, NKRC facilitates access to 8000+ e-journals of all major publishers, patents, standards, citation and bibliographic databases. Apart from licensed resources, NKRC is also a single point entity that provides its users with access to a multitude of open access resources.

3.4 MCIT Consortium(http://www.mcitconsortium.nic.in)

The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) Consortium caters to the information requirement of 9 institutions including NIC, CDAT and CDOT (with its offices in multiple locations). Set up in 2005 with funding from the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT), the Consortium subscribes to 5 electronic resources including IEL Online, ACM Digital Library, Indian Standards, Science Direct and JCCC. Other activities of the Consortium include establishing institutional repositories, Union Catalogue of books, journals and resources available in the member libraries, creation and maintenance of library automation software called e- Granthalaya. It provides access to 1818 e-journals and 14,000 e-books to its member institutions.

3.5 DAE Consortium

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) Consortium, set up in 2003, caters to the information requirement of 36 institutions including BARC, TIFR and SAMEER. Funded by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Govt. of India, the Consortium subscribes to 2,000 e-journals from 4 publishers including Science Direct, Springer and MathSciNet. The Consortium is administered by one of the DAE intuitions by rotation.

3.6 ERMED Consortium (http://ermed.jccc.in/)

Electronic Resources in Medicine (ERMED) Consortium, set up at 2008, is an initiative taken by Director General of Health Services (DGHS) to develop nation-wide electronic information resources in the field of medicine for delivering effective health care for all. The Consortium is being coordinated through its headquarter set up at the National Medical Library (NML). DGHS provides fund for purchase of electronic resources under the ERMED consortium for Government medical colleges and institutions. Private medical colleges and institutions can join the consortium under its self-supported category. ERMED e-journal consortium has 98 members including ICMR, DGHS, AIIMS, NTR Health University and government medical colleges / institutes across the country. Currently consortium is defunct DRDO E-journal Consortium (www.dsl.drdo.gov.in/ejournals)

Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Ministry of Defence is the largest government-funded research and development organization in India with a chain of over 50 laboratories and establishments spread across the country. DRDO e-Journal Consortium was established in January 2009 to provide access to e-resources to S&T community of DRDO. The Consortium is governed by a Monitoring Committee having the representatives from different subject clusters and headquarters. It provides access to 568 full-text e-journals to 50 DRDO Labs. JCCC service was added to facilitate access to contents of all the journal titles subscribed by 20 major DRDO labs.

3.7 DeLCON(http://delcon.gov.in)

DBT e-Library Consortium (DeLCON) is funded by the Department of Biotechnology. Established in 2009, the Consortium provides access to more than 682 journals and bibliographic database to 33 member institutions which includes 14 DBT institutions and 18 institutions located in North Eastern Region (NER) and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Programme (BIRAP).

3.8 CeRA (Consortium for E- resources in Agriculture) (http://cera.iari.res.in & http://cera.jccc.in)

CeRA (Consortium for e- resources in Agriculture), an ambitious initiative from IARI, aims to provide scholarly information in the broad spectrum of agricultural sciences to foster academic quality research amongst its institutes and other agricultural universities. It was established in 2008 by ICAR as a sub-project of NAIP, funded by the World Bank. The Consortium is managed by IARI and promoted by ICAR. It covers around 3,000 scholarly journals (comprising consortium-subscribed, Library-subscribed and open access journals) from seven major publishers. The Consortium has 142 member institutions comprising of deemed universities, national research centres, agricultural institutions, national bureaux, ICAR institutions, etc.

3.9 NLIST(http://nlist.inflibnet.ac.in/)

The National Library and Information Services Infrastructure for Scholarly Content (N-LIST), launched in 2010 as a NME-ICT funded project has graduated as college component scheme of UGC-INFONET Digital Library Consortium. It provides access to more than 6,000 e-journals and 97,333 e- books to all Govt. /Govt. aided as well as non- aided colleges except colleges imparting courses in management, medical, nursing, agriculture, engineering, pharmacy.

3.10 Forum for Resource Sharing in Astronomy & Astrophysics (FORSA) Consortium

The FORSA is a group of different libraries from Institutions where astronomy is one of the main areas of research. The FORSA was launched in 1980 with an objective to compile union catalogue of scientific serials, annual and other irregular publications, reference tools, compile theses holding, holding of duplicate issues of journals, directory of libraries and facilities available in each member libraries. The FORSA started subscribing to e-journals on cross-sharing and cost-sharing basis. The Forum has 11 members as on now. The Forum is administered by the member libraries by rotation. Currently consortium is defunct.

3.11 IIM Consortium

The IIM Consortium is an initiative from libraries all the six IIMs in India. The Consortium commenced its activities in 2002 with subscription to electronic resources on cross-sharing and cost-sharing basis. Resources subscribed by the IIMs on cross-sharing basis include journals from Wiley InterScience and Springer Journals. Currently consortium is defunct.

3.12 HELINET(http://www.rguhs.ac.in/HELINETHOSTCONSORTIUM/homeheline thost.htm)

HELINET stands for Health Science Library and Information Network. The consortium was started in 2003 by Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences with a vision to improve the quality of education and research in the Health Science institutions of the state through enhanced access to high quality medical information. It provides access to 600+ core international e-journals, 2000+ e-books and 1500+ videos to all affiliated colleges of RGUHS.

3.13 MoES E-Journal Consortium

Ministry of Earth Sciences has subscribed 129 journals from Science Direct as well as Scopus and Web of Science database to its member institutions. Access to e-resources is available through IntraMoES Portal.

4. Summary

Library consortium requires continuous assessment, collaboration and proper management. Selection and procurement of information resources, negotiating licensing and agreements, funding, activities for promoting use of e-resources and membership of the consortium, monitoring usage, technological support, copyright and IPR issue are the biggest concerns for managing e-resources through consortium.

5. References

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2. Arora, Jagdish and Agarwal, Pawan. Building digital libraries in a consortium mode: Towards a national consortium. In: International Conference on Digital Libraries, 24th-27th February, TERI, New Delhi: Conference papers, vol. 1. New Delhi, The Energy and Resources Institute, p. 292-311, 2004. (Republished in the Proceedings of the Symposium on Consortia Approach to Resource Sharing: Issues and Policies (ed. Dr. Devika P. Madalli). Bangalore, DRTC, Paper E, 29 p., 2004.

3. Balakrishnan, N. Final Report of the Committee of Experts on Consortia- based Subscription to Electronic Resources for Technical Education System in India, submitted to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). New Delhi, Deptt. of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Sept. 2002.

4. Bostick, S. L. (2001). The History and Development of Academic Library Consortia in the United States: An Overview. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 27(2), 128–130.

5. Ching, S.H., Poon, W.T. and Huang, K.L. Managing the effectiveness of the library consortium: A core values perspective on Tiawan e-book net. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 29, 304-315, 2003.

6. Harloe, B. & Budd, J. (1994). Collection development and scholarly communication in the era of electronic access. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 20(2), 83-87.

7. Hiremath, U. (2001). Electronic resource: sharing in the consortia digital age. Collection Building, 20(2), 80-87.

8. INDEST Consortium. INDEST Consortium Annual Report, April, 2004 to March, 2005. New Delhi, INDEST Consortium, 2005.

9. International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC). Guidelines for Technical Issues in Request for Proposal (RFP) requirements and Contract Negotiations. (January 1999). http://library.uwsp.edu/aschmetz/Accessible/CIT2001/ICOLC.htm

10. International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC). Statement of Current Perspective and Preferred Practices for the Selection and Purchase of Electronic Information. 1998. http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/statement.html

11. International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC). Statement of Current Perspective and Preferred Practices for the Selection and Purchase of Electronic Information. Update No. 1 : New Developments In E-Journal Licensing

12.http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia/2001currentpractices.htm

Okerson, Ann. In today’s e-information marketplace: Am I a swan or ungainly duckling? Library and Information Sciences. In: Library and information services in Astronomy III. ASP Conference Series, Vol. 153, 1998.
Sathyanarayana, N.V., Krishnan, S. and Arora, Jagdish. Library consortia and resource sharing initiatives in India: A white paper. Bangalore, Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, 2004. 54 p.

Websites