Abstract
Interlibrary cooperation in Italy is a fairly recent and not very widespread practice. Attention to the topic was aroused in the eighties with the Italian library network project. More recently, under the impetus toward technological innovation, there has been renewed (and more pragmatic) interest in cooperation in all library sectors. Sharing electronic resources is the theme of greatest interest today in university libraries, where various initiatives are aimed at setting up consortia to purchase licenses and run digital products. A number of projects in hand are described, and emerging trends analyzed.
Highlights
Interlibrary cooperationin Italy is afairly recentand not very widespread practice
As to the delay we note in terms of shared management of electronic resources, weight clearly attaches to the fact that cooperation is not very established, nor are the national structures that ought to have supported it
The impression is that a few consortium initiatives that have been flourishing in recent months on the part of both libraries and suppliers have the principal aim of proposing cooperation models to guide future choices
Summary
As to the delay we note in terms of shared management of electronic resources, weight clearly attaches to the fact that cooperation is not very established , nor are the national structures that ought to have supported it. The result is that since (perhaps because of a misunderstood sense of departmental autonomy) there is no decision-making centre for libraries in each university , decisional processes prov e slow and cumbersom e All this brings many probl ems in establishing understandings and cooperative programmes with other libraries and weakens the universities in negotiating licenses. This position, while objectively favoring suppliers in the short term, in the long term risks facing them with difficulties given an increasingly impoverished, uncertain market because of the fragmentation and the limited capacity of possible purchasers. These observations are valid for the state libraries and public libraries, too, where the central (Ministry for Cultural Affairs) and regional authorities could play a more effective part in promoting digital cooperation
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