Since the 2008 recession, library consortia have been struggling. Research for an upcoming book found that 21% of consortia surveyed in a large 2007 American Library Association survey had closed or merged. Of particular note, was the well-known merger of SOLINET, PALINET, NELINET, and BCR into LYRASIS. Regional library systems were particularly hard hit by the loss of state funding, with some systems closings in California and Texas. Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Illinois combined regional library systems into small organizations. Clearly, a lot has been happening in library consortia in the past few years as borne out in several recent surveys on library consortia in America.
Published in Collaborative Librarianship, 5(3):150-153
Permission to add this article to Digital Colorado College was given by Ivan Gaetz, co-editor of Collaborative Librarianship.
Permission to add this article to Digital Colorado College was given by Ivan Gaetz, co-editor of Collaborative Librarianship.
