COLLABORATIVE MANAGEMENT OF ELECTRONIC RESOURCES IN SOUTH AFRICA: COSALC

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COLLABORATIVE MANAGEMENT OF ELECTRONIC RESOURCES
IN SOUTH AFRICACOSALC

• INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON CMRS
• 9 October 2003
• Hannie Sander, Chairperson COSALC
• Chief Director RAU Library and Information
  Centre

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CMRS IN SOUTH AFRICA

• Introduction new era imperatives
• From regional to international consortia
• COSALC focus and objectives
• Projects and services
• Selecting and evaluation
• Marketing
• Lessons learnt
• Members preferences
• The Road ahead
• Conclusion

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(No Transcript)
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NATIONAL IMPERATIVES

• Early 90s National Education Policy
  Investigation (NEPI)
• 1996 National Commission on Higher Education
• July1997 White Paper on Education
• December 1997 Higher Education Act
• July 2000 CHEs Towards a New HE Landscape (Size
  and shape)
• March 2001 National Plan for Higher Education
  (NPHE)
• NEPAD Forum on China-Africa cooperation

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INFORMATION IMPERATIVES

• 1996 Policy, Planning and Co-operation Smart
  solutions for information provision (WGLIT)
• October 1997 Towards smart models for
  information usage in HE (CHET)
• November 1998 Regional models (CHET)
• Declining budgets and value of SA Rand
• Rand/USD Jan 2000 to Jan 2002 77
• July 1999 Representatives of academic consortia
  investigate national cooperation on electronic
  resources (COSALC)
• OSIgteIFL EBSCOHost

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GAUTENG AND ENVIRONS LIBRARY CONSORTIUM
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REGIONAL TO NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIA

• STRATEGIC PARTNERS
• NEDAC
• National Library of SA
• LIASA
• SABINET Online
• Government
• eIFL.net,ICOLC and other consortia

• CALICO
• esAL
• FRELICO
• GAELIC
• SEALS
• SANRIC

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COSALC MEMBERS

• 35 academic libraries
• Mergers 35 to 21(2004-2005)
• 425 590 FTEs (contact and distance)
• 7 research libraries
• Public library
• Corporate library

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• COSALCs vision is to enhance access to
  information and the sharing of resources to
  benefit the clients of library consortia in South
  Africa through national cooperation

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COSALC FOCUS AND OBJECTIVES

• National level promoting and supporting national
  co-operative initiatives
• Access to information (digital)
• National and international partnerships and
  agreements
• Contribute establishment of national ICT
  structure
• National strategy for access to electronic
  information

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COSALC FOCUS AND OBJECTIVES (2)

• Communication and liaison
• Advocacy channel
• Prominent profile
• Influencing national information policy
• Marketing and communication plan
• Training and capacity building
• Developmental opportunities
• Provide superior services, improve national
  access, information literacy

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COSALC FOCUS AND OBJECTIVES (3)

• Infrastructure and funding
• Voluntary
• Membership fees
• Sponsorships and donor funding
• Acquisition of compatible hardware, software and
  networks
• There are more telephone lines in New York than
  in the entire sub-Saharan Africa! Thabo Mbeki-
  1995

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PROJECTS AND SERVICES

• National strategy for access to electronic
  information sources
• South African Site Licensing Initiative (SASLI),
  1 May 2002
• Co-ordinate access, administer, train
• National audit of electronic resources
• Service level agreements
• Evaluation criteria

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EVALUATION CRITERIA

• 2000 guidelines selection and evaluation
• Purpose
• Broad guidelines national, regional,
  institutional level
• Comparison DB quality, appropriateness,
  usability, effectiveness
• Widest possible access to range of material
• High quality full text DBs purchased
• Capacity building to evaluate full text DBs

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CONSTRUCTION

• Part A content use
• Audience, peer review, back files, embargos,
  updates, coverage, journal lists, duplicates
• Appearance and product structure
• Search capabilities
• Full text options
• Display, save, print, export
• Help
• Pricing

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CONSTRUCTION (2)

• Part B IT support
• Access
• Archiving
• Support
• General customise, trials, statistics
• Weighted
• Essential and mandatory 80
• Highly desirable 60
• 1-4

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MARKETING

• Good product - good services
• Unknown - no purpose
• Must have a product or service available,
  deliverable
• Know your market

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MARKETING STRATEGY

• Need for and purpose of market strategy
• Establish and enhance COSALC profile
• Publicise collaborative efforts
• Raise awareness of consortium benefits
• Keep stakeholders informed

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MARKETING STRATEGY (2)

• Strategy for each objective
• Objective, eg. market COSALC projects
• Stakeholders and target group, eg. member
  libraries staff and management
• Methods, eg. handouts, Listservs, communiques,
  website
• Purpose, eg benefits encourage participation

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MARKETING STRATEGYINTERNAL COMMUNICATION

• Feedback to Library staff and institutional
  management
• Effective use of resources
• Encourage participation
• Emphasise benefits of collaboration

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MARKETING STRATEGYEXTERNAL COMMUNICATION

• External communication
• Positive image of COSALC
• Donors and stakeholders desire to be associated

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MARKETING METHODS

• Word of mouth
• Brochures Print and/or Electronic
• Articles (link to Web site)
• Newsletter
• Communiques
• Listservs
• SABINEWS

• Web site
• Information sessions eg. Workshops or conferences
• Exhibitions

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WEB PAGE OR OTHER MEDIA

• About the consortium
• Policy statement
• Memorandum of Understanding/Constitution
• Projects, products and services
• Cost benefits of sharing
• Marketing and communication strategy
• Annual report
• Communiques
• Links to members, stakeholders, other consortia

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WEB PAGE OR OTHER MEDIA (2)

• Consortium stationery Letterhead
• Brochure template
• Poster
• Logo

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BUDGET

• Consider expertise level within organisation
• Time available
• Design
• Outsource?
• Costly not always better than self-designed (know
  it all _at_ your library)
• Technical requirements
• Content accuracy, time implications

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THE NEVER ENDING STORY ...

• Regular contributions from all members
• Feedback to member library staff management
• Keep donors informed
• Review strategy regularly
• Success breeds success

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LESSONS LEARNT

• COMMUNICATION
• Communication strat
• Meetings and minutes
• Keep in touch
• Involve staff
• Market publicise
• Reports to donors
• Reports to institutional management

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LESSONS LEARNT (2)

• Formalise agreements
• Standards
• Existing infrastructure and expertise
• Keep it manageable
• Consultants
• Commitment

• Share responsibilities
• Recognise differences
• Be democratic
• Common difficulties

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COMMON DIFFICULTIES IN REACHING AGREEMENT

• Lack of National regional colldev policy
• Discrepancies license agreements - national
  licensing principles
• Continuous price increases, surcharges for
  e-access
• Best for most
• Branch collections

• Changes to access models pricing models
• Volume of proposals
• Long time evalaution
• Member response - often slow or none
• Realtime management and proposals
• Impact of mergers

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COSALC MEMBERS PREFER

• Balance quality, relevance, use, and price
• Price not based on print value (//print e)
• Financial benefits for current subscribers
• Multiple models Flexibile- no. type of
  libraries phased in models
• Archiving/long term access
• Sensitive to bridge the digital divide
• Win-win, or no deal

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THE ROAD AHEAD

• National strategy for access to electronic
  information
• National collection development policy
• Scholarly communication and publishing
• Librarians schizophrenia
• Educate publishers
• ICT infrastructure
• Sustainability

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THE ROAD AHEAD (2)

• Contact with other consortia and stakeholders
• International communities/consortia
• National System of Innovation
• New SA Research Development Strategy
• Sustainability
• Section 21 company

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IN CONCLUSION

• Creative innovative access to information
• Inst. repositories, BOAI, SPARC, DOAJ
• Affordable equitable access for members
• Sharing resources for library consortia clients
• National and international collaboration of
  library consortia in South Africa through
  national co-operation
• COSALC .. The never ending story

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CONTACT ADDRESSES

• COSALC
• http//www.uovs.ac.za/library/cosalc
• COSALC Listserv
• cosalc_at_sabinet.co.za
• Hannie Sander
• js_at_bib.rau.ac.za
• Susan Veldsman
• sasli_at_cosalc.ac.za

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GETTING TO GRIPS WITH THE IDEA

• THE BASICS OF CONSORTIA
• Presentation by Hannie Sander
• Namibia Consortium Building Workshop
• 12 May 2003

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OUTLINE

• Collaboration
• Co-operation
• Consortium
• Relation with other professional bodies
• Models of consortia
• Examples

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COLLABORATION CO-OPERATION

• COLLABORATION
• Working together is old hat in libraries
• Network - ask
• Authors and collaborators
• CO-OPERATION
• Working together in everyday/operational issues

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CONSORTIUM

• Establish group/grouping
• Working together towards a common goal
• Usually purchasing involved
• Economies of scale
• COMMON DENOMINATOR
• Working together

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RELATIONSHIPS

• Duplication?
• Some overlap - Different level
• Very focused
• Generally professional body (NIWA) -
  professional issues
• Consortium focus on common operational issues
• Normally financial benefit
• Membership of more than one consortium

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MODELS OF CONSORTIA

• Voluntary
• Formalised
• NPO or NGO
• Trust
• Section 21 Company
• Geographical
• Subject

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GOVERNANCE EXAMPLE

• Membership
• General Assembly
• Governing Board
• Standing Board Committees e.g. Finance,
  Nominating, Membership, Bylaws, one or two
  advisory committees
• Outside experts and Electronic Information
  Advisory Panel

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EXAMPLES

• Regional OHIOLINK, NELINET, GAELIC
• National COSALC, FINLIB, ZULC
• Multi-country consortium eIFL.Net
• Library type specific CAUL
• Subject specific Adonis
• Function specific OCLC