Resource Sharing in Libraries: Concepts, Products, Technologies, and Trends

Marshall Breeding

Jan 2013 · American Library Association

About this ebook

Supplementing your local collection through resource sharing is a smart way to ensure your library has the resources to satisfy the needs of your users. Marshall Breeding’s new Library Technology Report explores technologies and strategies for sharing resources, helping you streamline workflows and improve resource-sharing services by covering key strategies like interlibrary loan, consortial borrowing, document delivery, and shared collections. You’ll also learn about such trends and services as:

• OCLC WorldCat Resource Sharing, and other systems that facilitate cooperative, reciprocal lending
• System-to-system communications that allow integrated systems to interact with resource-sharing environments
• Technical components that reliably automate patron requests, routing to suppliers with tools for tracking, reporting, and staff intervention as needed
• Specialized applications that simplify document delivery, such as Ariel, Odyssey, or OCLC’s Article Exchange
• How the NISO Circulation Interchange Protocol (NCIP) can enable borrowing among consortial libraries using separate integrated library systems 
• The Orbis Cascade Alliance consortium, examined using a case study

About the author

Marshall Breeding is the editor of Smart Libraries Newsletter for ALA TechSource, as well as the creator and editor of Library Technology Guides and a columnist for Computers in Libraries. He has authored the annual “Automation Marketplace” feature published by Library Journal since 2002. He has edited or authored several books, includingCloud Computing for Libraries, published in 2012. Former Director for Innovative Technology and Research at the Vanderbilt University Library, he regularly teaches workshops and gives presentations internationally at library conferences.