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Presents a case study of the Health Sciences Libraries Consortium in Philadelphia using Ovid Technologies’ search system, database and Web gateway. Considers the authentication and authorization environment and the successful use of the program Guardian. Outlines further developments in this area as the system is upgraded.

Over the past two years, Commonwealth Libraries, the State Library of Pennsylvania, has extended Internet access to 220 school, public, academic, and special libraries. Using a text‐based interface, access has been provided through library staff, who attended basic and advance training workshops. The goals of the project are to

The desirability of electronic document delivery systems has been argued for years and the reasons for the slow progress of the idea are discussed. An explanation of the technical background is provided followed by some examples of electronic means of information distribution such as facsimile and disc‐based systems. Some experimental projects are described and the article concludes with a description of document image processing systems used for business purposes which have a number of features in common with delivery systems.

Over the past 30 years the United States has grappled with the regulation of children's advertising in various media. The same debate that occurred in the 1970's in the US over banning children's advertising is heating up in the EU today. As with other regulatory issues the regulation of children's advertising involves trade‐offs. In the US, the First Amendment rights of the advertisers must be balanced with the government interest in protecting children. The regulation of children's advertising also involves balancing the competing interests of advocacy groups, legislators, broadcasters and advertisers. Advocacy groups have been very effective in focusing public attention on the issues of children's advertising. One of the most vocal and impactful groups was Action for Children's Television (ACT), whose efforts culminated in the passage of the 1990 Children's Television Act. Once that was accomplished, ACT was disbanded. In more recent years, however, the Centre for Media Education (CME) has replaced ACT in calling for regulation of children's advertising. CME was instrumental in pushing the 1996 FTC investigation related to 900 telephone numbers directed at children, and is now behind the Child Online Protection Act (COPA). The same questions raised nearly 30 years ago by ACT are now being cast in the US in terms of the Internet, otherwise little has changed. Each new innovation in media and technology ushers similar questions to the table, and the same balancing act must again be employed to answer the basic question: how far do we go to protect our children? The US's answer to this question offers insights for other countries seeking answers to similar questions.

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.

This chapter explores the feasibility of establishing a consortium for the sharing of electronic resources between two libraries: the University of the West Indies at Mona and the University of Technology, Jamaica, both of which are located in Kingston. After a description of the institutional and library contexts, the two libraries are compared in terms of missions, staffing, funding, and collections and other differences and similarities including the e-resources. To analyze the feasibility of establishing a partnership/consortium, the exploration and evaluation of formation of a consortium were done using three kinds of analysis: a literature review, interviews, and a review of existing processes and documentation. The data gathering methods and results are described followed by a potential blueprint for implementation. The researchers did not interview or solicit the views of the university administrators and governing bodies or government officials as to the feasibility of such cooperation in light of the tentative nature of the investigation. The authors however worked with the premise that with the proper infrastructure, a consortium between the two universities would be viable. Other institutions considering development or formation of potential consortia might find the approach and methods in this chapter useful as a possible methodology.

This paper aims to show the impact of consortia purchased periodical publications on document supply services. These services have undergone considerable changes over the last five years, first decreasing but now recovering.

First, this paper reviews the most recent specialised literature, focusing mainly on the impact of electronic journals in libraries, their effects, and proposed actions. Second, as an example of this new behaviour, presents the document supply service data, as collected in one hospital's health‐science library in the last four years.

As evidenced by the literature, the users' acceptance of electronic journals has undoubtedly been excellent. Consortia purchasing projects have become a basic tool that expand collections, support cooperative technological development, and require negotiating skills from librarians. But these mass purchases do not seem to be the ideal solution for libraries, they entail losing freedom when choosing the collection and often make library collections homogeneous by publisher.

Reflects on what possible causes have led to the current situation and the current way to manage the collection.

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the activities of various library consortia functioning across India. A questionnaire was used to collect information for the present study from Indian consortia and their web sites were also visited to collect data. The study ascertains that consortia approaches help libraries financially and save money through collective access to databases and e-resources as opposed to individual subscriptions. It also suggests that different consortia can be merged to form a single one across a country and provide services to the users. The analysis has been done on the basis of approximate subscription prices conveyed by vendors through oral communications. The chapter highlights how libraries can function in consortia mode to enhance their services to users in the face of dwindling budgets and spiraling costs of scholarly journals and databases. The chapter analyzes and demonstrates that consortia agreements can lead to more judicious expenditure by libraries and suggests areas for further research to gain deeper insights into the activities and functioning of various consortia. It also makes suggestions about formation of a nation-wide collaboration to maximize savings and avoid overlapping access through a number of consortia.

ASVIN was a project funded by the Research Support for Libraries Programme (RSLP). The principal aim was to develop better co‐operation between nine UK libraries in the veterinary and animal health field. The project examined a number of library related areas, such as journal archiving, collection development policies, development of a common Z39.50 catalogue interface, grey literature, electronic journals and consortia purchasing. This paper examines the latter issue, taking a brief look at the historical developments and exploring the reasons why libraries enter consortia. It then focuses on the effects upon collection development, models of consortia and describes the ASVIN experience.

Health information oriented toward the consumer has long been scarce. Online databases and health information directories have been geared to the health professional. Many libraries have responded to the consumer's desire for and right to health information, but most have not, except indirectly, as participants in consumer health information consortiums. As McClaskey states: