ALIA Board of Directors: Forums

ALIA Forum on Purchasing Agreements

Conference Room, ALIA House, Canberra. 14 October 2002

Background
In their May 2002 meeting, the Board of Directors resolved that ALIA National Office should convene a cross-sectoral forum to discuss the critical issues relating to licences and consortia. The Board decided that the forum should consider:

• What is already underway or operating
• What are the issues to address
• Who has responsibilities in what areas
• What outcomes are desirable and how can they be achieved

The forum would contribute to one of ALIA's key initiatives for 2002 specifically targeted at institutional members and would address the challenges and complexities of acquiring electronic resources with licence conditions appropriate to user needs and at a favourable price.

Forum on purchasing agreements, 14 October 2002
The ALIA Forum on Purchasing Agreements was held at ALIA House on 14 October 2002.

Key library organisations were invited to nominate a representative to attend. The forum was chaired by Maxine Brodie, deputy university librarian, Macquarie University. Moyra McAllister represented the Board of Directors.

The program for the forum was designed to encourage participation and discussion and aimed to achieve two broad outcomes:

For ALIA
A defined role in supporting libraries to achieve favourable purchasing arrangements, both in terms of the library sectors to target and the nature of the support to be developed

For all participants

• Increased awareness of the roles and activities of the key library organisations
• Increased awareness of the different consortia models that have been or are being developed and emerging trends in access to online content
• Agreement on how best to work together to support acquisition of electronic resources

Outcomes for ALIA
At its November 2002 meeting the ALIA Board of Directors considered a report on the forum and agreed that the areas identified for possible action by ALIA should be explored and implemented as appropriate as part of the Association's 2003-2004 plan (ALIA: making the difference). An advisory group with cross-sectoral representation will be established to assist the Board and National Office in the development and implementation of a program.

Program

Session 1: Existing consortia models
Three contrasting consortia models were outlined and discussed:

• CASL - Cheryl Brickell
  [presentation -15 slides, 50k+ images]
  
  
• Viclink/Gulliver - Julie Rae
  [presentation - 23 slides, 50k+ images]
  
  
• CAUL - Diane Costello
  [presentation - 22 slides, 50k+ images]
  
  

Session 2: Issues and challenges
The was introduced by Moyra McAllister. Participants spoke about the critical issues for the libraries and sectors represented at the forum — link to summary of discussion (below)

Lynne Makin, interim executive officer, Public Libraries Australia, who was unable to attend the forum provided a discussion paper.

Session 2: Issues and challenges — roundtable discussion of the views and experiences across different sectors

Summary of discussion
The issues discussed included:

• Libraries and suppliers may have a poor understanding of one another's business. There is a need to build knowledge and trust between the purchasers and suppliers.
• Some suppliers are concerned that consortia are anti-competitive
• In the special libraries sector it can be difficult to find the common ground to form consortia; for example, the diversity of user needs and subject areas of government libraries
• For government libraries, government purchasing rules can be inhibiting. Because of the diversity of government libraries it has proved difficult to see how best to administer consortia or to evaluate products. However FLIN has started to look at the issues and one consortial arrangement has been in place since May 2002.
• Art libraries have a range of sizes and budgets, but some are very small. Their needs are for a targeted, small range of materials. The standard information tools are now out of the price range for some art libraries.
• In a number of states where health and hospital libraries come under state health departments, libraries have not been involved in negotiating arrangements for access to health information resources. Library collections and the individual needs of libraries have not been taken into account. For example, there is a lack of continuity in titles. South Australia is the only state to have a library-based health consortium.
• For small libraries there is a need for help with negotiating with suppliers.
• A national TAFE consortium will commence in October 2002. Their preferred model is for licences based on concurrent users, not site licences. There are issues of different user requirements in joint use libraries and the need to train library staff in licence conditions and copyright.
• For school libraries, ASLA would like a standard approach for schools Australia-wide that is based on equity of access. ASLA believes that a subscription service for a core set of resources to which all schools and students could have access is needed. Licence conditions must be appropriate to the school environment; for example allowing for a high level of concurrent use of a product in a classroom setting.
• CSIRO operates an internal consortium. It has dedicated staffing for reviewing and negotiating agreements and has been quite successful in establishing licences. Funding comes from CSIRO's divisions and libraries. CSIRO also takes part in the CAUL consortium for some products. There are issues of access by CSIRO's spin-off companies and commercial partners.
• The costs of establishing and maintaining consortia can be high. Both the CAUL and Gulliver consortia started with initial seeding funding and then had to evolve sustainable ongoing arrangements. The National Library continues to provide considerable resourcing for the CASL consortium.
• Australia is a very small market for online resources. Models that have developed in larger markets, such as US and Canada may not be feasible here.

Session 3: The broader environment and emerging trends
Roxanne Missingham (National Library of Australia) discussed the opportunities available to Australian libraries in the current climate. Australian libraries have a history of innovation in this area. For example, the first joint purchase of an electronic resource was in 1967. Australian libraries have many difference business needs. Because of the small size of the Australian market, overseas business models may not be applicable. In our small market there are particular issues of having the people and infrastructure resources to provide ongoing support. The current senate inquiry into the role of libraries in the online environment is an opportunity to demonstrate the information needs in Australia and to seek better government support for equitable and sustainable arrangements. It is important to be mindful of national competition policy and to build relationships with suppliers and our understanding of their business.

Steve O'Connor (CAVAL) looked to the future for the publishing industry and user needs and demands and how these may affect the acquisition of resources by libraries [presentation - 11 slides, 50k+ images].

Session 4: Outcomes — future actions and directions, roles and responsibilities
Ways to address the issues and the role that ALIA might take were discussed in this session.

Session 4 round table discussion: possible solutions, future actions and directions, roles and responsibilities, collaboration and co-operation
Summary of discussion

Identifying value for libraries and suppliers
It was agreed that a successful consortial arrangement needed to offer value to both purchaser and supplier.

Benefits to libraries:

• Being able to provide access for users to information that a library acting individually could not
• Universal access to a set of titles
• More for the same process
• Time saving in negotiating and managing licences
• Information sharing

Benefits to suppliers

• New customers
• More use of their products
• Reduced costs in acquiring and keeping customers
• Distribution of information
• Knowledge of the market / feedback from customers
• Cost savings in administration and invoicing
• Increased bottom line

Outcomes for ALIA
The following were identified as possible areas for action by ALIA:

• Training - development of a CPD course (the ALIA Acquisitions Group has expressed interest in developing a CPD activity)
• Advisory service - the ALIA copyright advisory service could be a model
• Links to information and experts — for example, a register of experts in negotiating, an information kit for ALIA members
• Joint ALIA / LIANZA work
• Advocacy and lobbying to support equity of access. The senate inquiry into libraries in the online environment and the establishment of the National Coalition for Information Literacy Advocacy provide opportunities
• Organise an event, such as a forum or symposium in 2003 involving both suppliers and libraries
• Products for ALIA members, eg. special rates for personal members for access to professional literature

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