“Playing Well With Others”: New Opportunities for Library Consortia

Libraries everywhere are facing a complex array of budget cuts, staff retirements, technological disruption, etc. Many libraries may feel that they do not possess the organizational strength they once enjoyed, and as a result, an increasing number are seeking out ways to collaborate with fellow institutions in order to serve their stakeholders more effectively. The library consortium landscape, however, is rather confusing, and an almost endless series of acronyms reflect the array of options for consortial participation. This article attempts to describe the various kinds of library consortia that currently serve libraries, and offers suggestions on how and when to leverage the collective power of a library consortium in order to maximize the efforts of any single library..