International Coalition of Library Consortia

The International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) is an informal, self-organized group of library consortia from around the world; it exists for strategic and practical discussion of issues of common interest among the consortia members. The ICOLC first met informally as the Consortium of Consortia (COC) in 1997. Over time, its name was adjusted to reflect its increasingly global character.

A library consortium is any local, regional, or national cooperative association of libraries that provides for the systematic and effective coordination of the resources of school, public, academic, and special libraries and information centers, for improving services to the clientele of such libraries. Consortia conduct their business to advance research and learning, share risk, provide easy access to information, provide high-quality content (electronic resources), enable continuous professional development, strengthen library leadership as education and information providers, and to shape the future.

All library consortia, anywhere in the world, may be part of the ICOLC. There are no membership fees or barriers to participation. The ICOLC gathers its strength from sharing information and strategies about the benefits that its members bring to libraries and their users. These benefits can include:

ICOLC represents both formally organized and informal consortia. That is, consortial groups range from informal with no central office, a rotating leadership, and volunteer service; the most formal may be legally incorporated, have an organized office in a larger government agency or NGO, with large permanent staff. Consortia may adjust and change over time: a hallmark of cooperative work.

Consortia can come in many different shapes and sizes—comprising dozens even to hundreds of libraries down to groups of a handful. Some have broad programs that bring libraries together, while many are mainly brought together to license electronic resources for common use. Consortia not only vary in size, but they are also very diverse. Consortia vary in terms of mission, scope, funding sources, total funding, staffing, and more. ICOLC's member consortia may be confined to specific library types (e.g., special libraries, academic libraries, public libraries) or government agencies, or can comprise multi-type libraries, which may be regional or cover broad regions, nation, or more. Many libraries belong to more than one, to achieve different purposes.

The ICOLC serves participating organizations by facilitating discussion among consortia on issues of common interest. It conducts meetings that rotate in locations around the world. The closed session/invitational meetings happen twice a year (North American venue in spring; European venue in fall) to keep consortia informed about new e-resources, pricing practices of information providers and vendors, and other issues of importance to directors, governing boards, and library members. During these meetings, ICOLC may meet with selected information providers, to discuss their offerings and to engage in dialog about issues of mutual concern. But the primary purpose of the meetings is information exchange and discussion across the consortia.

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