Library Groups and Local Consortia are the foundations of resource sharing. They allow libraries to broaden their collections and their services. The spirit of giving really presents itself with this concept. One small library is able to prosper from the collections of many. In the Greater Midwest Region we encourage local consortia to become DOCLINE® library groups.

A DOCLINE library group is a consortium with eleven or more DOCLINE libraries. If your consortium meets this basic requirement, then you could enjoy the benefits of being a DOCLINE group. As a DOCLINE group you would be able to use the facilities in the DOCLINE system:

1. to search for individual titles held within your group;
2. to download a union list for the members of your group;
3. to retrieve a list of the members.

You must contact the Greater Midwest Region or your DOCLINE Coordinator to be added to a group, removed from a group or to establish a new DOCLINE group. If you would like to request that your consortium becomes a DOCLINE group, send an email to Charniel McDaniels: mcdaniel@uic.edu. Include the following information in the email request:

• The abbreviation or unique code for the group (Unique code cannot exceed 10 characters and cannot duplicate any existing LIBID or library group code in DOCLINE. Use Institutions Search to verify that your library group code is unique.)
• Name of the library group
• A list of the 11 or more libraries that belong to the group with LIBIDs
• If you are the contact or lead person for a library group, please consider whether your library group needs the serial holdings union list products and include that information in the email along with your contact information.

FreeShare is the largest of all library groups. It is a cross-regional library group with over 1300 members. Thirty-four percent of its members use the library group feature for routing. FreeShare was created for DOCLINE libraries that want to participate in free, reciprocal lending. The requirements for joining are that libraries must have their holdings in SERHOLD and agree to exchange free interlibrary loans with other participants. To be added to the FreeShare library group, contact your regional DOCLINE coordinator.

The Greater Midwest Region has over 50 consortia or local groups. You can refer to the GMR website for a complete list. http://nnlm.gov/gmr/resourcesharing/hslconsortialocal.html

Once you belong to a DOCLINE library group, you could easily find a listing of yourself along with the other members of your group. Simply:

• Log into the DOCLINE system.
• Select the Institution tab.
• Click on More Search Options to reveal the Search Builder.
• Use the drop down arrow under Select Search Field to choose Library Group.
• Use the drop down arrow under Library Group to choose your group (FreeShare, VALNET, OHSLA, etc).
• Click on Add to Search.
• Finally click Search at the bottom of the screen.

These steps reveal the list of members of the group that you have selected.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 at 5:58 pm and is filed under Resource Sharing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.