Library Groups and Local Consortia
What is a Consortium?
A consortium is a group of independent institutions that organize to accomplish goals that they could not reach as indiviual organizations. Library consortium serve as a focal point for all of its members. Their activities usually concentrate on continuing education, group purchasing and resource sharing.
What is a DOCLINE Library Group?
Some consorita are also DOCLINE Library Groups. You must have at least 11 libraries to form a library group. In DOCLINE it is assumed that you will be invloved in Resource Sharing and Union listing.
| Code | Library Group Name |
|---|---|
| Health Dept | Health Departments |
| CAS | Chicago and South Consortium |
| CLIBCON | Chiropractic Libraries Consortium |
| CAHSLA | Cincinnati Area Health Sciences Library Association |
| FreeShare | Free Reciprocal Interlibrary Loan Group (see below) |
| FRVALC | Fox River Valley Area Library Consortium |
| FVC | Fox Valley Consortium |
| KMLA | Kentucky Medical Library Association |
| HSSDLA | Health Sciences Section South Dakota Library Assoication |
| MLANO | Medical Library Association of Northeast Ohio |
| METROIL | Metropolitan Consortium |
| MDMLG | Metropolitan Detroit Medical Library Group |
| MHSLA | Michigan Health Sciences Library |
| NEIHSLC | Northeast Indiana Health Sciences Library Consortium |
| NEOMED | Council of NEOMED Associated Hospitals |
| NWIHSLC | Northwest Indiana Health Sciences Library Consortium |
| OUTLibGMR | Outreach Libraries in the Greater Midwest Region |
| SCWHSLC | South Central Wisconsin Health Science Library Consortium |
| SEWHSLC | Southeast Wisconsin Health Science Library Consortium |
| TRINITY | Trinity |
| TCBC | Twin Cities Biomedical Consortium |
Reciprocal Agreements allow libraries to form partnerships and extend resources. The GMR encourages their Resources Libraries and Primary Access Libraries to seek such arrangements. The GMR Resource Library Reciprocal Agreement can be found here.
FreeShare 
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FreeShare is a cross-regional DOCLINE Library Group whose members agree to fill DOCLINE requests free of charge on a reciprocal basis. That is, FreeShare participants provide free ILLs to any other FreeShare group member. There are no charges for the material, the delivery method, or the service level. The loan is totally free to the requesting library.
Any DOCLINE library - except Borrow-Only Libraries - may ask to be added to the FreeShare Library Group by contacting the DOCLINE coordinator in that library's NN/LM region. Participation in this group is by self-selection. There is no agreement form, regional affiliation, or institutional affiliation required.
With the release of DOCLINE 2.7, which provides routing by Library Group, you can place the FreeShare Library Group directly into your routing table. For best performance, you should place FreeShare, and FreeShare alone, into a cell in your routing table with no other libraries or library groups in the same cell. DOCLINE will then randomly select up to 20 FreeShare libraries that are currently active, own the needed volume, provide the requested delivery method or alternative delivery methods, and provide the requested service level. DOCLINE will route the request to each of the randomly selected libraries until it is completed. By including FreeShare in your routing table, you can tap the collections and services of the over 1,300 libraries participating in FreeShare.
You may place the FreeShare Library Group into any cell in your routing table. Some libraries may prefer to place FreeShare into Cell 1. Others prefer their lower cells to include individual, known libraries that experience has shown provide reliable, efficient service and place the FreeShare Library Group in a higher cell; then if their preferred lenders cannot fill a loan, the request will route to FreeShare.
If you would like to be added to the FreeShare Library Group or if you have any questions about FreeShare, please contact your regional network office at the toll-free NN/LM number, 1-800-338-7657.
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