The leaders of the Western NC Library Network (WNCLN), comprised of Appalachian State University, Western Carolina University and the University of NC at Asheville, recently received an LSTA grant from the State Library of NC to conduct strategic planning to explore the future of their consortial arrangement. WNCLN has the opportunity to explore some of the overarching questions that consortia face in order to strengthen and improve its 30-year collaboration.
As part of that planning process, WNCLN leaders will lead a discussion and invite audience input of best practices, big ideas, national trends, and future directions in academic library consortia.
Some topics they will address are:
- Libraries have long ago established that more can be achieved by working together than alone. How can this core value be sustained in today's environment of rapid change in higher education, libraries, the publishing industry, and technology?
- How can consortia enable libraries to develop long-term strategies for managing print across institutional boundaries and to leverage digital resources collectively?Â
- How are consortia collaborate most effectively over the wide spectrum of library services (acquisition, licensing, organization, storage, publication, digitization, discovery, creation, expertise, access and more)? With so many opportunities to collaborate, how does a consortium go about establishing its priorities?
- In an environment of so many national, regional, and local consortia, how can so many collaborations successfully co-exist? How can we create environment of connections rather than competition?
- How can effective consortial agreements be achieved with vendors in an environment where common goals are harder to establish and sustain?