D. Litt. et Phil. / South African academic information services realise that they can no longer rely on their own information resources to provide in the growing information needs of their users, especially after access to the Internet and the vast number of information sources of the World-Wide Web have become available. Access is needed to digital full-text, sound, graphics, images, multimedia and hypermedia documents in national and international organisations. Cooperative resource sharing between the different organisations proved to be the only solution to the growing information problem. Academic information services are required to assist in creating digital study material, and in the transfer of digital text, multimedia and hypermedia for research, instruction and distance education. By implication, the development of an information technology infrastructure within the organisation, as well as nationally and internationally, has become essential. The purpose of this research was to examine what the current circumstances and futuristic information technology developments and events are under which South African academic information services have to develop an information technology infrastructure for resource sharing. To gather information on the current circumstances, a survey was done on initiatives taken by South African academic information services towards the development of an information technology infrastructure for resource sharing. Questionnaires were mailed to 37 South African academic information services, to which 34 responded. The Delphi interviewing technique was used to scrutinise future information technology developments and events that may influence the planning and development of an information technology infrastructure. A panel of 10 experts was selected to take part in the interviews. Scenario building was applied to show how planning and decisions by management could influence the outcome of an academic information service. The focal issue was the timely development of a digital academic information service within an information technology infrastructure. General conclusions of the study are: • Current organisational and national information and telecommunications network infrastructures cannot cope with the transfer of information sources, such as sound, image and digital full-text documents. Insufficient bandwidth for the effective transfer of information is a major problem. A flexible infrastructure which conforms to set standards, can adapt to new information technology developments and supports the business and information technology strategies of the host organisation, must be developed for resource sharing. The main recommendations of the research are: Access should be provided to all digital resources of national and international organisations irrespective of time or location. Electronic text centres can be employed to provide continuous access to digital resources. Development of an infrastructure for resource sharing should be a collaborative effort between the organisations towards acquiring and employing the essential and most suitable information technology. All academic information services should participate in a regional or national resource sharing cooperative. The value of cooperation and consortium membership lies in the availability of information sources in all formats to all users of the member organisations. Standards should be improved and maintained to ensure communication, retrieval and transfer of information sources. Information services should plan for larger bandwidth to cooperate within an international information infrastructure.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, 2003. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Dec. 9, 2004). Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-219).

Conference proceeding from the Living the Future 6 Conference, April 5-8, 2006, University of Arizona Libraries, Tucson, AZ. / The Libraries of Kenyon College and Denison University, supported by a Mellon Foundation grant, have collaboratively redesigned and merged their technical services departments into one combined unit, through the creation of a joint department of Collection Services. As members of the Five Colleges of Ohio and OhioLINK consortia, both libraries have a long standing history of cooperation. This venture, however, takes cooperation to a new level of collaboration by merging one department within two distinct libraries, geographically separated on two campuses. This presentation will be geared towards providing valuable insight to other libraries who might be considering new ventures in collaboration and work redesign. Key elements of this unique plan will be highlighted, such as staff empowerment and redefined workflows, while the focus of the presentation will be on the process undertaken in planning and implementing the redesign project. Recognizing that successful reorganization at this level is not a given, the presenters will include a frank discussion of both the keys to success, as well as those things that have been bumps in the road, so that others may anticipate both the challenges and rewards of rethinking the role of technical services within our libraries.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pittsburgh, 1980. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-152).

BANDEIRA, Lígia Almeida do Nascimento. Cooperação em bibliotecas acadêmicas do Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Ceará (IFCE). 2013. 113f. – Dissertação (Mestrado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Políticas Públicas e Gestão da Educação Superior, Fortaleza (CE), 2013. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-05-08T16:41:33Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_dis_lanbandeira.pdf: 1125436 bytes, checksum: 946eb4481f5ecf65e768f8dcd537574e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-05-08T17:35:12Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_dis_lanbandeira.pdf: 1125436 bytes, checksum: 946eb4481f5ecf65e768f8dcd537574e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-08T17:35:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_dis_lanbandeira.pdf: 1125436 bytes, checksum: 946eb4481f5ecf65e768f8dcd537574e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / This research analyzes the cooperation among libraries of IFCE as an alternative for improving information services by the perception of librarians and campuses directors. Though case study method, it is shown the current panorama of cooperation among libraries located in three different cities from State of Ceará, Brazil, namely, Juazeiro do Norte, Crato and Fortaleza. In doing so, it was investigated some aspects related to library cooperation such as use of technological resources, the existence of 14 library services that could reveal cooperation actions if it is developed by the participants, and, finally, personal views about the necessity of cooperation. It is believed that the participation of campuses directors were an opportunity to understand the macro-level library cooperation in IFCE. The main findings suggest that there is no effective and formal cooperation works (even between the libraries closer by distance). On the other hand, it is realized that participants have a positive perception of the respondents about cooperation as a factor of library services quality. / Esta pesquisa analisa a cooperação entre bibliotecas do IFCE, como alternativa de melhoramento dos serviços de informação, na percepção de bibliotecários e diretores de ensino. Para tanto, investiga, pelo método do estudo de caso, o atual panorama de cooperação entre as bibliotecas dos campi Juazeiro do Norte, Crato (localizados na Região Metropolitana do Cariri) e Fortaleza. Por meio de questionários e observação participante, inquiriu-se dos bibliotecários sobre a situação das bibliotecas quanto ao uso de recursos tecnológicos, indispensáveis à cooperação, à existência de 14 serviços bibliotecários passíveis de serem desenvolvidos em cooperação e, finalmente, sobre aspectos mais amplos da cooperação, situados igualmente para os diretores de ensino. A análise e interpretação dos dados ocorreu mediante o método de interpretação dos sentidos. Como resultados, constatou-se a inexistência de cooperação formal entre as bibliotecas pesquisadas (mesmo as mais próximas), a percepção positiva dos entrevistados quanto ao melhoramento dos serviços bibliotecários pela cooperação e a disposição para possível implantação nas bibliotecas pesquisadas

Diploma thesis deals with the activity and services of selected Czech and Polish public libraries in Euroregion Těšínské Slezsko - Śląsk Cieszyński. An essential element of the thesis is the characteristics of library cooperation throughout the Euroregion. There is also described the historical, cultural and social background of Euroregion which has influenced public libraries and their cooperation.

The main purpose of this study was to identify the major obstacles to cooperation as perceived by school library media specialists in the state of Mississippi and to determine if members of the Coastal Mississippi Library Cooperative (CMLC) believe that there are fewer obstacles to cooperation than do non-members. The secondary purpose was to evaluate the CMLC to some extent to determine if success was achieved through organization when defined by the variables, planning, governance, funding, communication, administration, and evaluation. The population of the study was all of the librarians (academic, public, school, and special) in the six-county area which comprises the CMLC, and a random sample of public school librarians throughout the remainder of the state. All of the school librarians were sent a questionnaire that requested their responses to statements of barriers to cooperation. All of the librarians in the CMLC region were sent a questionnaire to obtain their perceptions of participation in the CMLC. Pour librarians, members of the CMLC, were Interviewed to obtain information on the organizational factors of the CMLC. Data received from school library media specialists were submitted to various statistical tests. The Chi-Square statistic was used on the demographic portion of the questionnaire, which revealed that four of the variables and the dependent variable, membership in the CMLC, were significantly different. A t-test performed on the barriers to cooperation section produced no significant differences between the member and non-member responses. The perceptions of participation in the CMLC data revealed that there were differences among the four library systems (academic, public, school, and special) involved, but most of the respondents considered the CMLC to be successful. Data from the interview also revealed that the CMLC was successful in its organization. Due to the overall low response to the survey, the stated hypotheses could not be accepted; however, many of the findings and implications should be useful in helping to eliminate several obstacles to cooperation in Mississippi.

The development of library Consortia in Zimbabwe was necessitated by the need to reduce subscription costs and to widen access to electronic resources as well as implement new technologies among academic libraries. The development of Zimbabwe University Library Consortium (ZULC) and College and Research Library Consortium (CARLC) enabled libraries to cooperate and collaborate in building capacity to support teaching, learning and research through access to quality scholarly information. The trajectory of consortia development in Zimbabwe since 2002 has however been characterised by a focus on the academic sector to the exclusion of other types of libraries. The future development of library consortia in Zimbabwe can be better envisioned when correlated with the country’s national development agenda. While not made explicit, this agenda is underpinned by the idea of access to information. This study investigated how the benefits of the existing library consortia can be harnessed to promote the achievement of Zimbabwe’s national development goals. More specifically, it examined the ways that the development paths of ZULC and CARLC can be transformed to support the country’s national development agenda and programmes. This culminated in a model that will accelerate and guide the future development of its library consortia to facilitate a supporting developmental role. The novel aspect of this study is that it seeks to integrate library consortia into the national development plans of a developing country and to extend their benefits as widely as possible. An extensive literature review of the characteristics, models, and development of consortia in selected countries was complemented by an empirical mixed-method component that generated data through interviews, questionnaires, observation, and the analysis of key documents. A special feature of the study is a detailed analysis of the successes and challenges of library consortia in other countries and in the Southern African region to supplement the empirical data that informs the proposed model. The main finding is that a model with a multi-type structure and a National Coordinating Committee is best to transform the development paths of Zimbabwe’s academic library consortia to support the country’s national development agenda. The model’s key elements are finance, structure, governance, functions, and special features. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Information Science / PHD / Unrestricted

Information and communications technology (ICT) makes remote access to information possible. Resource sharing facilitates the provision of access to information sources not owned by an individual library. Case studies were conducted at the University of South Africa and University of Namibia libraries to explore the provision of access to information in academic libraries in southern Africa through collection development, resource sharing and acquiring remote access to electronic resources through ICT facilities. It was found that both libraries have recently adapted their collection development policies to accommodate electronic resources although their budgets did not increase accordingly. The recruitment of ICT knowledgeable staff tends to be a problem at both libraries. Resources are shared via interlending and document supply with Unisa Library as a model in southern Africa. Both libraries add their holdings to the national bibliographies and Sabinet and are members of GAELIC. However, the UNAM library is a passive partner. A consortium within Namibia’s borders is suggested to improve resource sharing. / Information Science / M. A. (Information Science)

Sedan digitala bibliotekskataloger först introducerades i slutet av 60-talet och början av 70-talet har det funnits två skilda källor för metadata för bibliotek i Sverige. Å ena sidan Libris, utvecklad och använd av framför allt KB och forskningsbiblioteken, och å andra sidan Burk för folkbiblioteken. Nästan lika länge har det gjorts försök att skapa en gemensam, nationell katalog för alla svenska bibliotek, men trots alla ansträngningar, innefattande ett flertal direkt från regeringen, råder fortfarande det tvådelade systemet. Denna intervjustudie har till syfte att undersöka attityder hos anställda från olika delar av bibliotekssektorn i denna fråga. Även frågor om bibliotekssystem diskuteras. Det förefaller finnas stor enighet bland informanterna om att den bristande samordningen av katalogdata faktiskt är ett problem, men det råder delade meningar om vad som borde göras åt saken, och vem som borde göra det. Studien analyseras och sätts i ett sammanhang utifrån debatten om digital upphovsrätt i allmänhet och Tarleton Gillespies teorier i synnerhet. Slutsatser som dras är att samordning skulle underlättas om biblioteken använde sig av öppna data och öppen källkod, vilket skulle peka på Libris som källa för metadata och open source-bibliotekssystem som Koha. De bibliotek som har samordningsuppdrag, regionbiblioteken och KB, skulle behöva ta ett större ansvar för att samordning ska kunna komma till stånd. Om dessa förslag blev verklighet skulle leverantörerna behöva anpassa sina affärsmodeller för att kunna erbjuda data under öppna licenser. / Ever since digital library catalogues were first introduced in the late sixties and early seventies, there have been two separate metadata repositories for libraries in Sweden. On the one hand there is the Libris catalogue, developed and used mainly by the national library and the university libraries, and on the other hand there is the Burk catalogue for the local public libraries. For almost as long, attempts have been made to create a single, national catalogue for all Swedish libraries, but despite all efforts, including several government bills explicitly stating that this need to happen, the dual catalogue system prevails to this day. This interview study aims to find the opinions of people from different sectors of the library field on this matter. Views on integrated library systems are also debated. There seems to be great consensus among the interviewees that there is, in fact, a problem with lack of coordination of catalogues, but there is less agreement as to what should be done about it, and by whom. The study is analyzed and contextualized utilizing the debate on digital copyright in general and the theories of Tarleton Gillespie in particular. It is concluded that cooperation would be facilitated if libraries made use of open data and open source, which would suggest Libris as metadata repository and open source library systems such as Koha for ILS. Libraries assigned with interlibrary coordination, i.e. the regional and the national libraries, would have to take on a greater responsibility than the local libraries to implement these cooperations. Vendors serving libraries would have to adjust their business models if these proposals were to become reality to offer data under open licenses.