Bending the Ties that Bind: Navigating Technological Change as a Member of a Consortium

Library consortia exist for a number of reasons and have the main benefit of increasing access to a greater number of resources for its members. As with any muscle-bound entity, it is strong but not always flexible. The politics of decision-making within consortia vary as intra-consortial power is often dependent on the working dynamics of the different institutions within the larger system. The presenters for this session represent two different consortia and different institutional roles within their consortia. One is from a public flagship university within a system and the other is in a library that is geographically and programmatically removed from the flagship. Even with these differences, they both confronted similar difficulties when trying to establish institutional access for their library resources. Topics that will be addressed include a single sign-on system, configuring RSS feeds from the library catalog, customizing databases and other resources within the consortium, and negotiating licenses. The presenters will compare stories of how they were able to effect institutional change within their respective consortia and share the challenges of each