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In large system development efforts organizational and managerial issues are often more challenging than technical ones. One of the key concerns of managers is the control and evaluation of the overall development effort. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the evaluation of system development process in a setting where there are multiple stakeholders in multiple organizations that develop a common information system (IS). The case is a consortium of universities that has developed a common student registrar system over a period of more than ten years.

The authors used a social process model to analyze the episodes and encounters in the system development and evaluation process. The research approach can be characterized as action case.

The authors found that in the early stages of system development the evaluation was emergent or even non‐existent. As the system was developed further and issues, such as delays and missing features, arose, there was a need for better control of the process. Thus, the evaluation process evolved through a series of critical encounters into a more proactive one.

The authors studied only one case so broad generalizations directly from the case cannot be made. However, the results could hold true for similar settings. The authors believe that the results are interesting to both researchers and practitioners since in outsourcing relationships the consortium kind of arrangement is becoming more common.

The authors analyze the evolution of IS evaluation processes in a setting with multiple client and vendor organizations and reveal the complexities of system evaluation in such settings. Moreover, they introduce three new concepts: reactive, transitional and proactive evaluation processes. These concepts can help researchers and practitioners to better understand the nature of the IS evaluation processes and to possibly choose an evaluation approach that has a better “fit” with the development situation at hand.

Though there have been many cooperative efforts for resource sharing among the libraries of India in the last two decades, it is hard to find one successful programme that could be used as a benchmark to replicate in other libraries. The main factors that affect these kinds of efforts are more human and attitudinal than technological or economical. The information environment today is very much conducive enough to tackle the problems faced earlier. With the advent of the Internet and World Wide Web, it is possible to provide instantaneous access to the sources available not only within the organization, but other institutions that participate in the consortia programme. This paper provides a framework for the design and development of an intranet model based on a consortia approach. This model will facilitate information access and use by providing a single Web‐enabled window to the information users of the participating institutions in the consortia programme not only to their own resources but sources in the other institutions as well. This will bridge the gap between information resource rich and information deficient libraries and will enhance the information base, shared access and optimum utilization of information resources at an affordable cost.

The purpose of this paper is to review the state of libraries in India and summarise the strategic cooperative initiatives undertaken to improve user access to electronic information services.

The methodology used included personal interview, e‐mail interaction and literature searches. Several strategies for retrieving information were used across both the professional and research literature [Library Literature, Library and Information Science Abstracts, and Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)] and the Internet (Google). A variety of search terms were employed to gain a broad overview of the subject and then more targeted terms to examine key aspects of the area of study with greater specificity. The paper also examines a range of general environmental factors impacting on libraries and which must be taken into account to accelerate the pace of beneficial change. It also lists the significant achievements in this field to date.

There are still significant potentials for further implementation of cooperative strategies to enhance networked, electronic information service delivery in India. This paper discusses some of the underlying issues which are presumably delaying the establishment of consortia and which need to be resolved.

This area of study is extremely fast moving and regular updating and continuation of this research is required to maintain a grasp of the situation.

The negative factors outlined in this paper which militate against the full successful impact of cooperative strategies are clearly set out, in order to help library managers and administrators create practical solutions capable of eliminating these obstacles to progress.

This research gives an insight into how consortial strategies can help overcome the resource constraints which characterise library provision in many developing countries, providing a model for other library systems, which face similar problems, to follow.

In contrast to paper journal acquisitions, libraries in Korea have obtained collective bargaining power in purchasing electronic journals by forming a strong consortium named the Korea Electronic Site License Initiative (KESLI). KESLI is an epoch‐making programme developed in Korea as an attempt to greatly expand the availability of foreign scholarly information by consortia‐based purchasing of site licences of electronic journals from publishers and information providers. KESLI operates under the National Digital Science Library (NDSL) project, the purpose of which is to build a national digital library providing a one‐click total gateway to foreign scholarly information. This paper aims to describe KESLI and examine its significance for scholarly libraries in Korea.

The paper provides a descriptive analysis of KESLI.

The paper finds that some 400 KESLI members as of the end of June 2005 have voluntarily formed as many sub‐consortia by publishers as they wish to join, thus enhancing the use levels of scholarly information to six times higher on average than before. NDSL services, launched on 16 May 2001, enable patrons from KESLI member institutions to download, at a single interface from their desktops, all the licensed electronic journals provided by various publishers/vendors.

This paper's description of KESLI may allow further analysis of the value of collective site licensing for electronic journals and help other potential consortia to develop their own licensing system.

R&D consortia as a new R&D cooperative form flourished in Japan, the USA, and Europe and can be regarded as a major tool for promoting industrial technological innovation and enhancing industry competitiveness. Inspired by R&D consortia in advanced countries, Taiwan and the Chinese mainland seek to develop the cooperative R&D mechanism in their own distinctive contexts. The purpose of this paper is to identify the patterns of their formation and development and to reveal the dynamics of R&D consortia (termed “public technological platforms” – PTPs) in the Chinese mainland) to give some implications for other developing countries that try to model the cooperative R&D policy for their own technology catch‐up programmes.

The paper provides an explanatory framework for analyzing how Taiwan and the Chinese mainland seek to develop R&D consortia based on comparative analysis and case study.

R&D consortia in Taiwan and PTPs in the Chinese mainland have unique structural characteristics with their common catch‐up goals and have been developing in different ways reflecting the relationships and interaction between academia, industry, and government. The effectiveness of R&D consortia is largely determined by the institutional arrangements including goal setting, organizational arrangements, and government involvement.

Further analysis of R&D consortia and PTPs would be required to form empirical studies based on the collection of more extensive data.

The key to R&D consortia/PTPs' success is how to devise institutional arrangements to ensure effective cooperation between academia, industry, and government and to implement certain technology strategies effectively.

This research contributes by identifying the differences in development of Taiwan R&D consortia and Chinese mainland PTPs and by revealing their evolutionary process.

This paper discusses the status of information and communication technologies usage in Indian libraries with special reference to special libraries and the efforts made by various institutions to propagate e‐information products and services. This paper highlights the consortia efforts in India like JCCC Consortium, INDEST Consortium, CSIR E‐journal Consortia, and UGC Infonet. It further discusses digitisation efforts in India at NISCAIR, New Delhi, IIITM, Kerala, C‐DAC Pune, and the Digital Library of India. In addition it incorporates details on major information systems in India (such as NISSAT)and major library networks in India (such as INFLIBNET, DELNET, CALIBNET etc.). The paper concludes with challenges for library and information science professionals and an overview of initiatives taken by Government of India.

Research in business processes has been developed around a disciplinary approach toward the production of traditional knowledge, known as Mode 1. The problems studied with this approach are solved in a context in which academic knowledge prevails, with no major concerns regarding its practical applicability. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to propose a structure for knowledge production based on Mode 2 for business process researches.

A bibliometric research was conducted to define and conceptualize the classes of disciplinary problems, by assessing the years 2007-2012 of the Business Process Management Journal publications.

A framework for the Mode 2 knowledge production was proposed in the development of research in business process and conceptualized classes of problems related to this issue.

This work was carried out with specific focus on research in business process, so the defined classes of problems cannot be generalized.

The studies identified by this research are in the form of a disciplinary approach toward the production of traditional knowledge, known as Mode 1. This paper aims to fill the gap of a transdisciplinary production of knowledge and practical application, known as Mode 2 in the context of business process.

The history of the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) during the last decade is one of adaptation and innovation, driven by the need to keep pace with a rapidly changing world. CRL is a cooperative collection development enterprise, created in the age of print. Today we are confronting entirely new paradigms of information exchange and access brought about by digital media and the internet. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the past decade has been a time of re‐engineering CRL services, re‐orienting operations, and forming partnerships to put vital new capabilities at the disposal of academic and independent research libraries in the CRL community. In short, it is a narrative of how one organization recast its role from a centralized repository to a collection development and preservation community.

The paper takes the form of a study of the changing roles of collection‐building consortia based on the ten‐year recent history of CRL.

To ensure the survival of primary source collections, consortia must pursue a strategy that seems counter‐intuitive in today's “just in time” world: a strategy not based solely on current interest and demand. Collection‐building efforts like CRL must act on behalf of future generations of researchers and stakeholders, or abdicate their responsibility as stewards of knowledge.

The paper gives a perspective on the appropriate roles of library consortia and repositories in the current research libraries sector, vis‐à‐vis preservation, collection development.

The purpose of this paper is to review consortia efforts in developing countries.

This paper reviews the literature on library consortia in developing countries in general and India in particular. The paper also outlines the advantages and disadvantages of consortia.

“Library consortia” refers to co‐operation, co‐ordination and collaboration between, and among, libraries for the purpose of sharing information resources. Libraries in developing countries have been working on consortia at national, regional and international level. However, some barriers such as poor technological and communication infrastructure, inadequate finances, culture and context, attitudes toward consortia and multiple efforts are reported to be limitations of consortia activities in developing countries.

The paper provides a useful overview of consortia in developing countries, particularly in India.