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A smart place in the sun: future‐proofing the Queensland Government Libraries Consortium

Richard Sayers (Manager, Library Services at the Environmental Protection Agency, Brisbane, Australia)

Library Management

ISSN: 0143-5124

Article publication date: 1 August 2004

875

Abstract

The Queensland Government Libraries Consortium can claim to be one of Australia's more successful special library consortia in recent years, with a stable core membership of 14 library services, and combined savings to the Queensland Government of over A$1M in the 2002‐2003 financial year. This paper identifies critical success factors for the consortium to date, and looks to present and future challenges at a time when no organisation can afford to take continued existence, let alone success, for granted. In 2002, consortium members began looking strategically at how their organisation should be working to future‐proof services, and expertise. This process of internal review is still very much a work in progress, and continues to pose as many questions as it answers. It has, however, focused the attention on four issues of critical concern to the consortium: corporate governance, size, scope of functions, and recognition. Solutions implemented to date may serve as useful case studies for other consortia.

Keywords

Citation

Sayers, R. (2004), "A smart place in the sun: future‐proofing the Queensland Government Libraries Consortium", Library Management, Vol. 25 No. 6/7, pp. 283-292. https://doi.org/10.1108/01435120410547940

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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