The Comparative Study Of Library Consorrtium In China And America

On the purpose of sharing resources and creating mutual benefits, a library consortium, a cooperative organization of libraries is formed in accordance to the contract or agreement reached by all members. It is a new cooperative mode under network environment in order to share resources and reducing costs. The United States is the first country to raise the concept of library consortium and the best developed one in the area. In the States, the library consortia have been developed into the cooperative organizations with diversified types, flexible cooperative modes and complete mechanism. Therefore, a network system has been formed with the integration of all types of libraries in the States. Because of starting late, the general development level of library consortium in China is still low in information exchanges and services, compared with the United States, although there are some successful examples in China. Hence it is an effective way to improving local library consortium development level with the reference to the States' relevant experiences. Based on the result of the research on 105 American library consortiums and 15 Chinese library consortiums chosen in this article, the author summarizes the shortcomings of the domestic library consortiums and advances suggestions for further development through comparative analysis on the library consortiums of both countries with macrocosmic and microcosmic perspectives. There are 5 chapters in this article.In Chapter 1, the author mainly introduces the definition library consortium, summarizes the development of.In Chapter 2, the author introduces the history and current situation of the whole development of library consortium. Based on detailed statistic datum, theauthor expatiates the development of library consortium from the type, the management system and the financing sources of library consortiums both in the States and China.In Chapter 3, the author conducts a comparative research on the library consortium between the States and China. In the aspect of type, Chinese library consortium is single, coverage range is not broad enough, the number of inter-system library consortium is small. In the aspect of management system, most of the library consortiums of China are not complete enough. In the financing source aspect, there is no effective guarantee and few of capital-raising channels for domestic library consortiums in China.In Chapter 4, the author compares and studies the projects practiced by library consortium of the States and China. After comparing with whole status of two countries, the author compares and studies the projects from 9 areas such as cooperative cataloging, resource sharing, researching the corporate database, group discount program, building database, technology consulting, communication and training, consulting online, cooperative researching etc.In Chapter 5, the author summarizes the shortage of library consortium of China and brings forward the suggestions for further development. In strategic aspect, 4 suggestions are raised, they are offering favorable policy to support the development of library consortium, guaranteeing and increasing the way of the financing, consummating system of library consortium, co-constructing library consortium associated with other organization. In tactic aspect, 5 suggestions are raised, they are fostering the cooperation idea of the member of library consortium (including sensation of sharing and service), completing organization structure of library consortium, expanding function of library consortium, applying new technologies extensively, enhancing training of library faculty.