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The ownership of MARC bibliographic data has been an issue between OCLC and other companies in the marketplace. Two lawsuits are discussed between OCLC and Clarivate and SkyRiver. The "WorldCat Rights and Responsibilities for the OCLC Cooperative" provides a basis for many library contracts and how OCLC lays claim to bibliographic data. The "ICOLC Statement on the Metadata Rights of Libraries" is used as a general framework for discussing issues surrounding who owns MARC records and how they can be used or re-used. Most librarians are interested in free and open use of MARC records whether or not they may have passed through the OCLC system at some point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The MOBIUS library consortium has been the leading academic library consortium in Missouri for over two decades. Building on earlier collaborative work, seed funding from the state created the consortium in 1998 and MOBIUS became a reality. MOBIUS not only runs a shared integrated library system for most of the academic libraries in Missouri but also implemented a union catalog tying libraries together for resource sharing. Over time MOBIUS has expanded membership out-of-state into Oklahoma, Iowa, Kansas and Texas and as of 2022 MOBIUS has 80 library members with 232 branches. MOBIUS has also been active in licensing of e-resources for libraries, supporting member libraries in their use of open educational resources (OER), training and education, and running open-source software. The MOBIUS Open Source Services (MOSS) program is a service for members hosting software such as ArchivesSpace, Omeka-S, SubjectsPlus, and Evergreen (an open-source ILS). MOBIUS actively works with other consortia around the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Library consortia are planning on how their funding, programs, and services may need to change with the societal tumult caused by the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. Most consortia in North America are either state agencies or non-profit corporations which may have different approaches and options available for solving substantial budget shortfalls. Changes may need to take place in staffing, programs, and services. Some consortia may have financial portfolios which may help on filling-in budget holes. Other consortia have applied for, and received, funds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to help with staffing. Many library consortia will not see a quick recovery but may have long-term consequences as their member libraries and parent organizations try to recover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Libraries and institutions around the world are working with publishers to transform scholarly publishing into an open access ecosystem. To accomplish this goal, publisher contracts are being renegotiated and modified to include transformative elements which will move in this direction. With costs shifting from traditional subscriptions to fees which incorporate Read and Publish cost elements, tools are needed to provide underlying analytics both at the negotiating level but also for the ongoing implementation of new agreements. The ongoing workflow will be more complicated since institutions will need to more closely track authors and their associated article processing charge payments. A variety of open source and commercial tools and services are reviewed which have been developed to move to a new open access publishing environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Publish and Read agreements between publishers and consortia are leading the way to an open access publishing future. Although these types of agreements are just beginning to be made in North America, it is expected that many universities and consortia will move in this direction in the next few years. Some characteristics of these types of agreements are included along with some of the policies, structural issues and data needs to be successful. The open access publishing program of Cambridge University Press highlights the goal of one press to change their publishing to an open access future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Publish and Read mandates being promoted by the Europeans through OA2020 and Plan S, are making significant impacts on journal publishing. Although libraries in the United States have expressed concern about some elements of the proposals, larger forces have engaged which may flip the traditional subscription-based journal publishing system. Challenges and opportunities for libraries, publishers, and authors will create an unsettled market in the next few years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic libraries and consortia are spending the vast majority of their material budgets on digital content, including ebooks. A review of ebook preservation activities for the North American library consortia is provided along with a look at the major preservation services such as Portico, CLOCKSS and HathiTrust. Publishers and ebook aggregators are also examined to provide a broad environmental scan of the current ebook preservation activities and risks. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Some library consortia have investment portfolios which are under long term management. Having a proper written investment policy will aid in good governance and help the consortium properly manage its assets for the long term. A policy will define investment objectives, prohibited investments, a review process, a spending policy, and other needed details. A review of some special consortial needs provides insight into some of the unique challenges and opportunities faced by library consortia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public higher education is going through dramatic changes in terms of student demographics, public funding and changing perceptions on the value of higher education. Libraries are embedded in this ecosystem and must adjust to changing requirements and expectations. To help mitigate the impacts from these changes, libraries are collaborating through regional consortia to extend their purchasing power, provide services and do what they can to minimize negative impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Library consortia are typically nonprofit entities that exist to promote the interests and concerns of their member libraries. Activities may include licensing e-resources such as databases, ejournals, ebooks, and other library tools; operating shared library platforms; providing union catalogs and regional delivery and a host of other services. Most library consortia are governed by a board of directors and have active involvement with librarians in their member institutions. Conflict of interest policies have been instituted in many library consortia to provide good governance and to make sure that the needs of the organization are the primary purpose of participants and not the personal interests of stakeholders. An examination of some of the key elements of conflict of interest policies in nonprofit organizations are examined with specific application to library consortia. The key elements in all of the policies that were examined are transparency and disclosure. Organizations vary on the level of proactive disclosure that is required with some requiring extensive disclosure statements and others providing a simple acknowledgement of a conflict of interest policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Gold open access (OA) journals are multiplying at a high rate across many disciplines as major publishers launch new titles to complement their traditional subscription-based titles. This is on top of the many independent Gold OA titles which are being produced by higher education, societies, and many other special interest groups. The number of Gold OA journals covered in abstracting and indexing (A&I) and aggregator databases has shown substantial penetration in these services. This coverage varies widely by discipline but the inclusion of OA content into traditional library services means that quality OA content can be more easily found using the products and services licensed and promoted by libraries and consortia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This column focuses on formal collaboration and networking among libraries through consortia. It offers in-depth examinations of issues facing modern library consortia including (but not limited to) e-resource licensing, ebooks, next generation integrated library systems, shared print archiving, shared digital repositories, governance and other relevant topics. Contributions are accepted for this column and must be submitted to George Machovec (george@coalliance.org). Contact the column editor for suggested topics, deadlines and formatting. Library consortia are under increasing scrutiny regarding their value to member libraries. Most consortia offer a suite of services which can be valued either quantitatively or qualitatively to determine a return on investment for money and time put into consortial activities. Various common consortial activities are discussed with thoughts regarding their value to local libraries. Recommendations and suggestions are provided on how to perform a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA)/Return on Investment (ROI). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As libraries move from a printed to a digital ecosystem for the content that they license, they have increasingly depended on consortia to obtain the best pricing and contract terms. Consortial e-Resource licensing offers a variety of benefits and drawbacks which must be considered. Some of the key issues which must be addressed include whose license should provide the starting basis for a contract, shifting contract pricing away from a print-based model, avoiding overlap between competing consortia, the growing pressure to license digital products which are outside of traditional library purchasing, as well as other terms and conditions which must be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses networking and collaboration among libraries through consortia, focusing on the role of consortia in libraries' purchases of bundled packages of multiple electronic journals (ejournals) known as "Big Deal" packages. Topics addressed include pricing models for Big Deal packages; librarians' concerns that the packages bundle weaker, less-essential journals with journals that libraries want to purchase; and a research study on price differences in Big Deal packages.

The article discusses the use of next-generation shared integrated library systems (ILS) within library consortia. Topics addressed include multi-tenant or cloud-computing-based ILS solutions, mobile interfaces and social media, and considerations of cost-effective and efficient approaches to consortia amongst academic libraries. Other topics include the consideration of factors such as cost, security, and scalability and performance when selecting an ILS system.

The article discusses library collaboration and networking through consortia, focusing on peer-to-peer resource sharing through the catalog program INN-Reach originally developed for the OhioLink consortium. Details are provided on MOBIUS and Prospector, INN-Reach systems designed to provide searching and patron-initiated requesting to their respective regions of Missouri and Colorado and Wyoming.

The article discusses services and tools that have been developed to help academic libraries conduct use studies, compare collections, and analyze the needs of students and scholars. Information is provided on monographic analysis services such as Sustainable Collection Services (SCS), OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) Collection Evaluation, and Intota Assessment from ProQuest. Noted resources for serial analysis include the Center for Research Libraries' (CRL) Print Archives Preservation Registry (PAPR).

The article examines academic library networking and collaboration through consortia, focusing on issues such electronic resource licensing, electronic books (ebooks), and shared digital repositories. Details are provided on common scholarly ebook licensing models, demand drive acquisitions (DDA), and resource sharing among libraries.

The article discusses the relationship between library consortia and cost effective library management. It cites the most common programmatic areas with consortia, which include purchasing, shared technology and improved services to libraries. It also offers information on the International Coalition of Library Consortia, as well as various funding models for success.

The Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries has launched the Alliance Shared Print Trust and is in the process of developing a shared print analysis tool. The system allows libraries to compare themselves with other libraries that have added their MARC records so that they can easily and quickly determine what records are unique or held in common with other libraries. The comparison system is built on open source tools and has been embedded in the Gold Rush framework. The author provides a brief overview of other shared print analysis tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Friends and colleagues offer words of tribute and good wishes on the August 2011 retirement of Alan Charnes, xecutive Director of the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OpenURL link resolution has changed the way in which libraries are supporting access to digital object content, particularly electronic journals. The OpenURL concepts were developed by Herbert Van de Sompel at the University of Ghent in 1999 and are now becoming a NISO standard. Gold Rush is a central digital registry of databases and electronic journals and has incorporated OpenURL link resolution in its system to improve access to content. Some of the practical challenges and problems with link resolution are examined as is the future of open linking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gold Rush is a central digital registry of databases (e.g., abstracting/indexing services), full-text electronic journals, and other full-text resources available on the Internet. The project was undertaken by the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries on behalf of its member libraries in order to offer improved patron access to electronic resources (especially full-text journals that are embedded within commercial aggregator services) and to offer better administrative tools for managing contracts, and collection overlap analysis. The system is Web-based and has a public interface as well as a staff administrative mode. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Analyzes some of the major trends in electronic journal. General issues surrounding electronic journals; Examples of publisher-based electronic journal projects; Third party aggregators of electronic journals.

Originally conceived in mid-1999 as a project to serve member libraries of the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries, a nonprofit consortium, Gold Rush has recently been transformed by the Alliance into a commercial service available to any library. The service is described here in some detail, including its project goals, technical underpinnings, and features. Among the features described are the project's OpenURL linkage capabilities (known as Gold Rush Linker), its A-Z journal list, its subscription management functionality, and its reporting capabilities. Serials Review 2003; 29:230-232. © 2003 Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]