International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC): Exploring the Diversity and Strength of Participating Library Consortia

In this era of Cyberage, the information needs of the users have grown so enormously that no individual library can fulfill their information needs on its own. This has urged the need for cooperation between libraries and information centers for sharing of available resources and information through networking. Thus consortia are considered as a vital move towards library cooperation. A library consortium combines the purchasing power of its members and reduces the repetitive, laborious process of acquiring resources from each member. In a short span of time, numerous consortia have been formed all over the globe. As more and more consortia have been developed, communication among the various consortia has become critical. Thus, a consortium of consortia has been formed in the USA, known as the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) (Huarng & yu , 2011). The paper explores the consortia of different countries participating in ICOLC. Various features (viz., number of consortia, types and number of libraries participating, legal status and services provided) of participating consortia are keenly studied to have the in-depth study. It is observed that about 55 countries are participating in ICOLC and US is the major contributor (48.53%) as per the number of consortia. All types of libraries viz, academic, public, school and special are taking part in the consortia. These consortia vary in their legal status few are national while some are run by non-profit organizations while few others are administered by co-operative bodies