The goal of having a robust discovery system is a priority of the libraries the authors serve (both work at the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities). Given the current fiscal situation facing public higher education in their state, the current commercial systems were not affordable for most of their libraries. They decided to implement and…

The technology of the 21st century has had no shortage of challenges for libraries, but it has also brought opportunities. Operating systems, databases, and application environments that can use cheap off-the-shelf hardware to scale and handle hundreds of millions of transactions were not developed for libraries. However, libraries have taken…

The year 2011 was the PALNI (Private Academic Library Network of Indiana) consortium's "rookie season" for the implementation of Primo, the 2010 Discovery Layer 500 race winner. In this article, the authors report on their transition to the cloud within Ex Libris Ltd.'s Primo TotalCare environment: their preparation, the steps involved…

Formed in 1996, Internet2 is a not-for-profit advanced network consortium led by the U.S. research and higher education community. Its goals are to provide leading-edge network capabilities and to facilitate the development, deployment, and use of revolutionary Internet technologies. Starting with 34 universities, Internet2 has grown to more than…

Describes the use of mobile labs for training at remote sites. Highlights one, at the St. Louis (Missouri) County Library, that trains librarians on the use of the integrated library system; the other, at the South Central Regional Library Council in Ithaca, New York, provides training in computer applications to consortium members. (LRW)

Reports on the National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services meeting regarding library consortia, their functions, and how vendors and consortia work together in providing information services. Consortia provide vendors with an audience of less funded institutions but make licensing contracts difficult. Discusses issues including…

Since its humble beginning, Digital Past, a centralized local history digitization initiative at the North Suburban Library System (NSLS), a multitype consortium in Wheeling, Illinois, has now grown into a large centralized collaboration that consists of 32 libraries and a museum as its primary contributors. With Digital Past, there are various…

Describes the Kentuckiana Metroversity Linking project, a consortium of academic and public libraries using the Z39.50 information retrieval protocol to provide service to Greater Louisville and Southern Indiana. Topics addressed include the Z39.50 standard, the consultant's role, addressing technical issues, Internet vs. dial-in access,…

Describes the development of a Web-based union catalog for the New England Law Library Consortium (NELLCO) called DOM (Dom's Online Catalogs). Discusses early use of CD-ROMs; problems with using MARC records; search strategies; code samples; response time; and cost effectiveness. (LRW)

Describes the UTAD (Utah Article Delivery) Pilot Project, an innovative resource-sharing service that provides journal articles to the Utah higher education community, developed by the Utah Academic Library Consortium (UALC) in partnership with EBSCO Document Services. Highlights include goals, options considered, challenges, and evaluation. The…

Describes the experiences of two health sciences libraries, at East Carolina University and at the University of Virginia, in developing electronic collections. Highlights include full-text, Web-based resources; licensing issues; joint access to electronic resources through consortia; collection development policies; and an electronic resource…

Describes PALL (Pennsylvania Learning Link), an interactive computer system that offers research resources, electronic mail, discussion centers, distance learning information, access to Internet mail, and specific curriculum resources geared toward classroom needs. Regional services, statewide services, and classroom services are described,…