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The Lebanese Acedemic Library Consortium (LALC) presented during the Gulf Special Library Association in Qatar (2008)
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LALC: One more time
By By Houeida Kammourié-ChararaHoueida Kammourié-ChararaLALC Coordinator LALC Coordinator Electronic Resources LibrarianElectronic Resources LibrarianLebanese American UniversityLebanese American UniversityBeirut, LebanonBeirut, Lebanon © 2008 © 2008
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
LALC “raison d’être”
To cope with changes that took place in the university environment in Lebanon.
To keep pace with users requests and expectations in academic libraries, in particular in the e-resources field.
“To cooperate in the selection, pricing negotiations and access methods of electronic resources in the best interest of the library users in an economical way for the library.”
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
LALC Story
The vision began in 2001. The University of Balamand was the leader by inviting and encouraging all major academic institutions in Lebanon to develop a library consortium of electronic resources.
Three private institutions replied to the UOB invitation (currently the Board members). Jointly they formed LALC, the first Arab and Lebanese formal Academic Library Consortium.
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
LALC membersThe Board: American University of Beirut (AUB)
JAFET and SML
Lebanese American University (LAU)
RNL and Byblos
Notre Dame University (NDU)
University of Balamand (UOB)
And in 2006 two new members joined:
Université Saint Joseph (Medical Library)
Université Saint Esprit de Kaslik
Ms. Hilda Nassar (SML) and Mrs. Olga Ayoub-Mansour (Jafet)
Mrs. Houeida Kammourié-Charara
Mrs. Samar Kai-Kiwan
Ms. Randa Al-Chidiac
Mrs. May Samaha
Ms. Rima Malek
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
LALC By-Laws
In 2002 a By-Laws was drafted stating:
“LALC Mission Statement is to improve and expand the library services and resources of its institutional members. This is achieved through building a cooperative yet comprehensive collection of electronic resources and e-journals that will enable LALC member institutions to share resources and provide information to their users more efficiently and cost-effectively.”
This draft has never been approved and was replaced by a Letter of Agreement (LOA).
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
Letter of Agreement
In May 3rd 2004, a formal LOA was signed between LALC members in which the parties agreed to establish a consortium under the name of "Lebanese Academic Library Consortium – LALC”.
After 2 years of active work, LALC status was officially announced.
LOA governs all LALC activities, and it is renewed annually.
2007’s LOA included USJ and USEK in addition to the board members.
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
Administrative and Financial Structure Each member library is represented by one librarian
designated by the institution.
Librarians meet regularly (or via email) in order to discuss resource acquisition and other relevant issues.
A Consortium Coordinator is elected among LALC members for a period of three (3) years with the possibility of renewal. His duties are to convene meetings, keep minutes, draft annual reports, etc.
LALC set procedures and guidelines for trialing, acquiring e-resources, & project proposals.
All financial procedures, i.e., budget planning, payments and agreements are done according to each institution’s policies and procedures.
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
International Approach
2003 ICOLC
2004 AMICAL
2005 eIFL
LALC is the first Lebanese and Arab consortium member in the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) which primarily serves higher education institutions by facilitating discussion among consortia on issues of common interest
Two American institutions members in LALC are also members in AMICAL which is an international consortium of American model, liberal arts institutions of higher education
LALC worked on joining eIFL.net which is an independent foundation that strives to lead, negotiate, support and advocate for the wide availability of electronic resources by library users in transition and developing countries; However being a consortium of private institutions was the major barrier that forbids LALC from joining eIFL.
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
LALC Medical Consortium
LALC member institutions providing medical programs formed a specialized mini consortium:
AUB-SML UOB USJ-Medical Library USEK
This consortium acts as a sub-division of LALC and follows all LALC policies & procedures.
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
LALC & LIDSThe idea of having an ILL/DD service was first conceived by LALC in 2004, but didn’t succeed due to internal private reasons.
In October 1, 2007, the Lebanese ILL/DD Services (LIDS) was born and ILL/DDS policies and procedures were drafted.
The main goal of LIDS is to initiate processes & services to expand resource sharing.
A consortial version of A-to-Z (e-journal portal), was created to facilitate searching across LIDS members resources.
LIDS’ vision is to expand its services to Arab universities and colleges.
This initiative fulfilled a LALC major objective.
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
LIDS prerequisitesLibraries interested in joining LIDS should:
Have an Online Catalog (OPAC)
Subscribe to LIDS e-journals portal
Accept the terms and conditions of LIDS Letter of Agreement.
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
LIDS Management tool
LIDS management tool (in house) is used for submitting requests.
Lending and borrowing forms
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
More Lebanese Consortial initiatives
LAU Libraries are OCLC
International s
uppliers
LAU Libraries are actively
working on using AMICALCat
for ILL/DDS purposes
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
LALC “Good points” Overall performance: LALC has been successful.
Increasing the number of full-text databases (35 DB in 2006), with more concurrent users (unlimited) and reducing the cost of annual subscriptions.
Collaborating with organizations in Lebanon such as the Lebanese Library Association and outside Lebanon such as ICOLC.
Improving the working relationship among librarians and providing an opportunity for them to learn from each other, and to strengthen their relationships with vendors, agents, publishers, etc.
Geographic proximity is a major factor in the success of LALC: Members can easily meet on demand Publishers or vendors can apply the same pricing model.
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
LALC “Bad points” Loss of autonomy: Every decision needs consensus.
Extra effort is required to seal a consortial deal, which does not ‘necessarily’ result in substantial benefit.
Responding to changing local needs cannot be done without the worry about the impact on other libraries.
Publishers may have restrictions: no. of members payment methods unrealistic offers
Some have provided other institutions in Lebanon consortium deals without LALC’s knowledge
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
Future Challenges
To review and evaluate the consortium work in order to create an example that would set standards for consortia in Lebanon
To attempt to add more functions to LALC by exploring new ways of improving LALC; such as providing common training sessions and contributing in the compilation of e-resources manuals.
Launching a website: In January 21, 2008, LAU offered to host LALC website accessible through the official LAU libraries’ website.
To frequently attend conferences and promote LALC in order to recruit more members.
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
Thank you
LALC success story is brought to you by a small
but PROUD country
Houeida Kammourié-ChararaLALC Coordinator
Electronic Resources Librarian
Lebanese American University Libraries
LEBANON
E-mail [email protected]
© Houeida Kammourié-Charara
References
Al-Chidiac, Randa.” The challenging & daring experiment: LALC.” eIFL Workshop, LAU, Beirut. March 2006.
Habre, Cendrella. "Lebanese Academic Library Consortium.“ AFLI 13th Conference, Beirut. Oct.-Nov. 2002.
Kai-Kiwan, Samar. “Lebanese ILL/DD services.” LIDS meeting, Beirut. February 2008.
Kammourié-Charara, Houeida. "Academic library consortia with examples from the Arab World.“ MELCOM 25th Conference, Beirut. May 2003.
Kammourié-Charara, Houeida. “LALC: A successful challenge.” eIFL Collaborative Management Of Electronic Resources Workshop, Cairo. April 2005.
Kammourié-Charara, Houeida. "The role of consortia in academic libraries: A case study of the Lebanese Academic Library Consortium (LALC)." Diss. U of Wales, 2003.
Lebanese Academic Library Consortium (2004). Annual Report, 2003-2004.
Lebanese Academic Library Consortium (2008). Annual Report, 2005-2006 & 2006-2007.