Viability of Information Technology Consolidation amongst New York State Cooperative Library Systems.

New York State's Library Systems face increasingly tight budgets. Consolidation/shared service is one potential way that systems can provide the same or higher level of service at decreased cost. The strong variability between systems, however, makes this difficult both to accomplish and appraise. This study surveyed 16 Cooperative Library System directors and IT managers to determine allocative and technical efficiencies that could arise from a consolidated or shared service arrangement. They were also surveyed on the local uniqueness of each function and their perception as to the potential benefits of this arrangement. IT training, Onsite Tech Support, Help Desk/Phone Tech Support/Email Tech Support, Public Database Support, Webhosting/Design/Development and Technology Grant Writing were found to be potential candidates for either shared or consolidated approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]