University libraries consortia in Spain

AZUCENA BLANCO PÉREZ Directora Técnica, Consorcio de Universidades de la Comunidad de Madrid y de la UNED, Universidad Complutense de Madrid The first Spanish university library consortium, Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Cataluña, was formed in 1996. Other consortium in Spain were created from 1996 to 2002 to negotiate licences for content.They include : Consorcio de las Universidades de la Comunidad de Madrid y de la UNED para la cooperación bibliotecaria (Consorcio Madroño), Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Andalucía, Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Galicia, etc. Since we began working together in 2002, there have been several meetings to formulate goals. Although the main goal has been the co-operative acquisitions of electronic resources, now is a good time to start new consortia programmes and services.


Introduction
The seminar 'Library Consortia' (Cádiz, Spain. 1998) [1] was the first meeting in Spain to address the issue in general. At that time, the only established consortium of university libraries in Spain was the Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Cataluña (CBUC). Nevertheless, other universities were working to organise regional consortia.
These efforts led to the founding of three additional consortia: University Library Consortium of Madrid, known as Consorcio Madroño, the University Library Consortium of Andalucía, and the University Library Consortium of Galicia.
Some of the circumstances [2] motivating the creation of consortia are the rising prices of publications, budget cuts and the costs of introducing new electronic resources that add to the burden of maintaining information in both paper and computer formats.
This new step in library co-operation is very important since it links universities and libraries with a new initiative. Libraries and universities have worked together in the past on shared acquisitions and on licences for access to electronic resources, but the consortia add a new dimension, as they are based on the objectives and missions of various participating libraries.
The university libraries in Spain work together in an association called the Spanish University Libraries Network (Red Española Bibliotecas Universitarias , or REBIUN) [3] , created in 1988.
At the annual REBIUN meeting held in Córdoba in 2000, attendees reviewed the rising prices of publications and the different problems caused by the acquisition of electronic resources. A special Commission for the Acquisition of Resources (CAR) [4] was organised to assess the possibilities for co-operation in acquisitions, licensing of computer resources, etc.

Spanish consortia
The Spanish University Consortium began to working together this year. We have met on four occasions in Barcelona, Madrid and Santiago de Compostela. The main goal of these meetings was to find ways of reducing the costs of electronic resources through co-operative acquisitions.
Spanish consortia share the following objectives: to increase and improve access to bibliographic collections to enhance library services to save money through shared acquisitions to train staff in the use of new technologies. The goals for 2002 are to develop a special system for lending books to teachers, to analyse the journal subscription duplicates and to improve librarian training as well as co-operation among consortium members.

Andalucia
The Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Andalucía was formed by 10 universities (Table 3). The Centro Informático Científico de Andalucía (CICA) facilitates computer support and database storage for the Consortium. It doesn't maintain its own staff. The budget for 2002 was 1,950,736.40 C = .
This organisation provides access to databases and full text electronic journals.

Galicia
The Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Galicia (CBUGA) [7] was founded in 2001. It was formed by 3 universities (  Other services offered by the CBUC are a union catalogue, co-ordination of interlibrary lending, TOC of the subscribed journals, full text of Cataluña Dissertations and catalogue services and training.

Madrid
The Consorcio de las Universidades de la Comunidad de Madrid y de la UNED para la cooperación bibliotecaria (Consorcio Madroño) [6] was founded in 1999. It was formed by 7 public universities ( Table 2) of Madrid.

Spanish buying clubs
Other university associations for the co-operative acquisition of electronic resources already existed in Spain. The Grupo de Universidades G7 [8] , for example, was formed by the Universities of Cantabria, Islas Baleares, Navarra, Oviedo, País Vasco, Rioja and Zaragoza. This year the University of Extremadura was added to the group.
The main goal of this organisation is to promote co-operation among educational groups and researchers of the participating universities. This year they are adding new the goal of co-operative acquisition of electronic resources.
In 2002 the University of Valencia co-ordinated the acquisition of the Web of Science for 9 universities: Valencia, Politecnica de Valencia, Jaume I de Castellón, Alicante, Miguel Hernández, Palmas de Gran Canaria, La Laguna, Politécnica de Cartagena and Castilla La Mancha. The target for 2003 will be the co-operative acquisition of the full text journals of Elsevier (Science Direct). The University of Murcia will participate in this programme.

Conclusions
This is a brief look at the work of university library consortia in Spain. The main goal has been and still is the co-operative acquisition of electronic resources (journals, databases, etc.). However, the time has come for further analysis and evaluation of these purchases.
If the main objective of the Spanish consortia has been to save cost in the purchase of electronic products, we should now work to be more aware of the cost effectiveness, cost efficiency and cost benefits of the use of these resources.
Internet and the full text access to journals, books and other resources are changing the way information is accessed. We are in a new environment and we should adapt to it. Are we planning and co-ordinating this process?
The consortia are paying for full text access to the electronic journals. The university libraries pay for the subscriptions. At the present moment, though, no studies have been carried out to analyse the direct and indirect costs of this situation.
There are many unresolved questions regarding electronic information access, such as licences, contracts and contract law, inter-library lending, copyright law, electronic value added tax (VAT), etc. The best way to find solutions is to continue working together, but we need a plan to address these questions in an effective manner.