Study On Risk Prevention Of Library Consortium

Cooperation and resource sharing are the goal and orientation that libraries are always pursuing. Library consortium is the effective organization that makes resource sharing between libraries come true, and is also the developmental pattern and direction for libraries in the digital era. Library consortium can make libraries win the day in the changeable informational circumstances, but the instable factors and many risks existed in the library consortium are the obsession that makes the organizers and participants of consortium worried at all times, which influences the enthusiasm of partners and the collaboration benefits to a great extent. Therefore, it is an important problem to research the risks in library consortium and their corresponding preventing countermeasures.This dissertation, beginning with the systemic survey of the development, evolution and service status in quo of library consortium at home and abroad, analyzes the deep-level problems existed in the library consortium, researches the cooperative activities and cooperative relationships between libraries, investigates the service effects of library consortium, identifies the factual risks existed in the operation of library consortium, and constructs the risk preventing system from three aspects, that is, the foundation of library consortium, the service strategy and administration of library consortium. A brief description of the content is as follows.In the first chapter, the development of library consortium is discussed. Along with the advancement of information technology and its abroad application in libraries, library consortium undergoes from traditional literature sharing in the form of interlibrary loan and document delivery to modern resource sharing, including collection sharing, technology sharing, service sharing, business sharing, human resources sharing and so on. The digital environment not only provides technical support for library consortium but also endues library consortium with new content, extending the cooperative functions of library consortium. In the digital environment, library consortium possesses the functions of interlibrary loan, document delivery, union cataloguing, group purchasing, cooperative upbuilding featured resources, collaborative reference services, collaborative preservation of collections and so on, thus can realize resource sharing and resource integration, gain mutual advantages, and satisfy the user’s diversified demands and increase the competitive power of libraries. The library consortium has been accepted by lots of countries in the world. At present, a variety of library consortia have been established one after another in many countries, playing active role in library cooperation and resource sharing and accumulating some successful experiences. However, in the development of library consortium, there are also some disadvantages, emerging some unavoidable problems and having certain instable factors and risks, for example, the insufficient funds of library consortium, the insecurity of digital resources, the disunity and incompatibility of technology among libraries, the low service quality of library consortium, the entanglements of intellectual property rights, the complexity of administration between member libraries, etc.In the second chapter, the theoretical basis to research risk prevention of library consortium is analyzed, mainly involving the theory of contradictory management, the theory of synergetics, the game theory and the principal-agent theory, and trying to probe into the inherent rules and solution strategy of library consortium risk prevention by using some of the theories. For instance, method of contradiction analysis from the theory of contradictory management can be applied in resolving various conflicts among libraries, properly dealing with the cooperative and competitive relationships between libraries, preventing the risks and losses in library consortium, and leading library consortium to the orientation that is in favor of the whole goals and collective interests. Collaborative work among factors in the internal system is played on great emphasis according to the theory of synergetics, thus promoting the loose-combo state among libraries to the state of depending on each other and cooperating tightly, and finding the methods and strategies to eliminate the disorder in library consortium and degrade the internal risks to the lowest extent. Through analyzing the complex relationships among libraries according to the game theory, the fundamental obstacles in the course of library consortium can be detected by analyzing the relation between the chosen strategy by library and its corresponding gains, thus providing ways and means for library consortium to evade risks and maintain the stability. Owing to the phenomenon of asymmetric information, there are complicated principal-agent relationships between the administrative committee of library consortium and its members and between libraries. Therefore, in this dissertation, the optimal contract design theory and incentive mechanism design theory from the principle-agent theory are utilized to discuss how to design cooperative contract and seek for stimulative factors in library consortium, thus to restrict and activate the cooperative actions among libraries.In the third chapter, in light of various uncertain factors and problems existed in the operation of library consortium, risk evaluation and risk management countermeasures are discussed from the angle of risk management. Moreover, through field survey of the functional status quo in domestic library consortia in the form of questionnaire, the factual risks existed in the library consortium practice are detected, and a risk prevention system that can be referenced is constructed based on the survey from the aspects of library consortium establishment, service and administration.In the fourth chapter, the risk preventing countermeasures in the establishment of library consortium are discussed. The establishment of library consortium is the base for libraries to carry out collaborative activities. Because many risk sources and causes and the preventing effects are rest with library consortium establishment and influence the following phases greatly, risk prevention in the establishment of library consortium can eliminate various risk sources effectively. As to the risks existed in the establishment of library consortium, this chapter discusses the countermeasures to prevent choosing the ill-suited libraries to cooperate with by setting down reasonable selecting principles and procedures and methods and setting up the corresponding evaluating indexes to select partners. The incomplete contract risks can be prevented by devising the contract scientifically and maintaining it updated constantly. In order to prevent cultural conflict risks, the author puts forward building unitive library consortium culture and constructing the cultural merging mechanism of library consortium. In order to establish the relying relationship between libraries, the author proposes constructing the trust mechanism of library consortium through analyzing the factors that affect the trust in library consortium.In the fifth chapter, in light of the problems existed in the collections, technology and services of library consortium, such as the poor availability of digital resources, the incompatibility of technology and the poor quality of services, the author researches how to improve the quality of digital collections and to ensure the safe and sustainable utilization of digital resources. The author proposes establishing the technical standards and criteria and technical supporting platform for resources sharing between libraries, and brings forward the solutions of setting up the service quality standards in library consortium and integrating the services of libraries based on context-awareness to advance the level of service sharing and service quality of library consortium. In addition, the author points out the importance of preventing the risks of intellectual property rights, and puts forward constructing the balance mechanism between intellectual property rights protection and resource sharing in library consortium, and gives some suggestions to avoid the risks of intellectual property rights reasonably.In the sixth chapter, the problems and troubles in the administration of library consortium are discussed. Aiming at the phenomenon of asymmetric information and the efficient information communication and sharing, the imbalanced interests of libraries, and the opportunistic behaviors of partners in the cooperation, the author puts forward constructing information communication networks and platform and upbuilding the allocation mechanism of benefits and necessary compensation mechanism to coordinate the relationships in the library consortium, and establishing sound supervision and inspection mechanisms and impactful incentive and restraint mechanism.Finally, a summarization about the dissertation and the limitation of the research are given, and the research prospects about library consortium are pointed out.The dissertation is comprised of over 180,000 words and with 27 figures and 46 tables totally.