Resource Sharing, Networking and Library Consortia: Problem and Prospects in Bangladesh

Abstract

The emerging Information Technologies have brought many changes in libraries. These technologies have facilitated LIS professionals to work together to acquire and share library collection and provide digital library services to the user community. Increase of the literature in all subjects and shrinking of the library budget made the libraries depend upon each other. This leads to library cooperation, resource sharing and networking. Now the more accepted system of resource sharing is library consortia. Consortia approach is one of the many ways of maintaining cooperation and coordination among the libraries and in fact it has emerged as the ‘state of the art’ in library cooperation in recent years. The online databases; electronic journals are facilitate the formation of consortia among the libraries. This paper highlights the past and existing resource sharing and networking status of Bangladesh. In this paper the authors also depict the benefits of library consortia and try to provide some recommendations for the formation of library consortia in Bangladesh.