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The purpose of this paper is to study the cultural integration, the role of national libraries in regional and international cooperation, Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) national libraries’ barriers of cooperation and drivers of their cooperation and to propose a framework (conceptual and operational) for their cooperation.

Data collection tool of this survey was a researcher-made questionnaire, sent to 30 individuals and experts involved in cooperation of ECO National Libraries from eight institutions. The reliability of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha. It was 0.91. In this study, for awareness of activities between ECO national libraries and extraction of drivers, some documents were studied, and preliminary data were collected by informal interviews with meeting stakeholders and participants.

The lack of stability in management positions was one of the major barriers in cooperation of the ECO national libraries. Other major obstacles in this context were lack of continuous communication, lack of common protocols and standards, lack of planning, lack of a central coordinating organization, bureaucracy, etc. Geographical proximity, common history and heritage, common resources, Islamic and cultural factors, importance of information and knowledge, requirements of the international system and political and security requirements were considered as drivers. An information centre was proposed for their active cooperation. Iran is better to host the information centre.

National libraries as the scientific and cultural memory of nations and heirs of written heritage should cooperate and share their valuable scientific and cultural heritage to the future generations.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the results obtained from a study on cooperation, collaboration and partnerships between academic libraries in Romania.

The study is limited to the answers received from interviews with 11 of the 15 invited directors/heads of academic libraries from Romanian universities, but the findings can be extrapolated to assess the overall situation in this country.

The results’ analysis indicates that 73 percent of the participants (8 participants) consider cooperation in the activities of Romanian academic libraries as being at a low to medium level. National cooperation can be found only in relation to access to electronic information resources. Collaboration between libraries and other departments and services within universities exists, but collaboration with students and the teaching staff is less developed. Despite the small number of partnerships and collaborative projects in which Romanian academic libraries are involved, there is a desire to further develop such activities.

The study is the first of its kind undertaken in Romania and paves the way for further research on this issue.

The paper explores library cooperation in Zimbabwe and gathers views from librarians on the need for a library consortium model to underpin national development. This study aims to investigate the development of library consortia in Zimbabwe and then propose a model that will both accelerate their development and support the country’s national development agenda.

The paper opted for an investigative study using a multi-method research design. Data on existing library consortia, namely, Zimbabwe University Library Consortium (ZULC) and College and Research Library Consortium (CARLC), were collected through questionnaires and interviews. The data were complemented by documentary analysis including primary sources of information, for example, annual reports and brochures. Data were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively.

The paper provides empirical insights on how ZULC and CARLC are transforming the provision of library services in several ways, for example, providing for the dynamic needs of users and strategizing on overcoming rising costs of scholarly content through resource sharing. The proposed model effectively elevates the fundamental library consortium principles of cooperation and sharing onto the national development stage, and it is novel and pioneering. The gestures and general remarks made recently by Zimbabwe Library Association and some ZULC members about national development and ZIMASSET are given rigorous and scholarly expression in this model.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalisability beyond Zimbabwe. It is therefore imperative for researchers to test the proposed propositions further.

The paper includes implications for the development of a library consortia model to underpin national development in Zimbabwe. The existing academic sector library consortium still excludes other types of libraries from participating in resource sharing and promoting access to information on a national development scale. The proposed library consortium model providing for nation-wide access to information is critical in realising national development goals in Zimbabwe. Currently, academic library consortia are contributing immensely through supporting learning, teaching and research in their respective institutions. Such benefits can also be extended to all institutions through a national library consortium to support development in Zimbabwe.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study how the development of a nation-wide library consortium model can be realised. There is relatively little researched information on library cooperation and library consortia and national development in Southern Africa with specific reference to Zimbabwe. The paper seeks to close the gap by providing information on library cooperation and library consortia and national development in Zimbabwe.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the quantitative and qualitative methods to assess the sustainability of cooperation models within research libraries networks in the humanities.

Changing research environment and budget constraints currently are the main challenges of research libraries networks: to cope with this pressure libraries need to build collective capacity through a strong model of collaboration and partnership and foster closer interaction between actors both from the library and the external world. In order to build effective and efficient cooperation models research libraries networks will first need to share a common vision and a well-focused organisation. Nevertheless, a multi-level approach should help them to identify their core functional requirements, the specialised needs of their users and a flexible cooperation structure able to maintain the financial sustainability of the system.

After illustrating the current challenges in the research libraries world, and how cooperation and collaboration issues have been connoting library management and activities, this work presents the methodology and the preliminary results of a research project which surveyed the URBS network, an international consortium of 12 libraries from academic and research institutions of several nations (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the USA) based in Rome, Italy.

This paper will be of interest and value to other research library networks or consortia with an interest in the development of new organisational models, and in the evaluation and assessment of their sustainability.

This paper seeks to analyze the different forms of library cooperation and the different types of relations that can be established for collaboration among libraries.

The paper attempts to show how cooperation as an application of the social intelligence is a tool to improve library services. For that, the paper uses the situation of Spanish university libraries between 1980 and 2005. Adopting an evolutionary approach, the study shows how cooperation has affected library organizations, and concludes that the current situation shows an intelligent adaptation to the needs of society.

Using the evolution of the academic libraries in Spain between 1980 and 2005, the paper analyzes six different forms of relation or cooperation that can be established by libraries. Those are: companionship, collaboration, association, cooperation, alliances and fraternization. The paper attempts to provide some guidelines for cooperation that may be of value to university libraries in their path towards the future. The approach is global, systemic and evolutionary. It is global in the sense that Spanish university libraries are taken as a model for exemplifying trends that are applicable to all types of libraries all over the world. It is systemic in the sense that it sees the Spanish case as one of a wide range of processes that do not occur in isolation in a world in which libraries – even at an international level – form part of a whole. Finally, it is evolutionary in the sense that it considers that the future will be built on our current achievements, which in turn depended on those of the past.

The paper is of interest because it reveals that the development of individual living beings and species depends to a large extent on their ability to cooperate. Similarly, the development of organizations and groups of organizations depends on their ability to work together and to establish a framework in which individual goals are attained thanks to external achievements or situations. Libraries are no exception to this, and may in fact serve as a paradigmatic example. Throughout history they have tended to develop powerful mechanisms of cooperation.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse a Finnish model of cooperation between universities – a joint university library.

The paper is a case study. The vision for the joint university library Tritonia, the reality when the libraries of three universities merged in 2001 and the new merging in 2010, when two more universities joined the library cooperation, is discussed. Key factors of quality management in a joint bilingual library are analysed.

The synergetic effects of such a library are numerous when it comes to: the access to printed collections; the role of the library as a social place and meeting spot for students, staff and the public; the available services; and the networking between languages and universities. No synergetic effects have so far been achieved when it comes to e‐resources.

The paper is based on experiences of one joint library.

The paper presents an existing model for cooperation in a joint multilingual library.

The paper focuses on a new model of library cooperation between universities.

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from the research carried out among the directors of Croatian public libraries about cooperation between public libraries and the academic community and about promotion of science in Croatian public libraries. Owing to their number, strategic position in society and the skills and knowledge of librarians, public libraries have an opportunity to cooperate more intensively with the scientific community, expand their holdings with science‐related content and to offer new services. Some already cooperate with the Croatian scientific community by participating in joint research projects and in promoting science. Although cooperation with the scientific community is not among their priorities, Croatian public libraries are enthusiastic to continue with this type of activity.

The first part of the paper offers an introduction followed by a short review of the current position of public libraries in society and possibilities for strengthening their position by cooperating with the scientific community (in the second part of the paper). The third part introduces the research among the directors of Croatian public libraries followed by the presentation of the findings of the same research. An online survey consisting of 19 closed questions was used as a method of research. An e‐mail invitation to participate in the research was sent to all public libraries in Croatia.

The outcome of the research may serve as an orientation to the members of the Croatian academic community when planning new cooperation with public libraries and vice versa. The findings of the research may also serve as an orientation to the directors of Croatian public libraries when considering expansions of their holdings with new material related to science and in the development of new offline and online services.

The strategic position of public libraries in society makes them of interest for promotion of results of developments in many areas of human endeavour, including science, by using their holdings, services and premises. According to the research findings, public libraries participate actively in popularisation of science by using their existing holdings and services. Public libraries in Croatia are promoting science actively and are participating in scientific projects led by scientific institutions. Their holdings contain popular science titles, and they offer services to facilitate access to scientific information. Public libraries included in the survey plan to continue with the promotion of science, as they believe that this activity is important for them.

The paper aims to advance understanding of the role of public libraries in Croatia and their role in promotion of science, and contributes to the growth of library and information science literature on topics related to public libraries.

This article considers what contribution traditional library practices — identification, selection, organisation and retrieval — can make to managing networked information, and how those practices need to be updated to take account of the special difficulties of the Internet. The answer is found in cooperation. Cooperation between librarians and authors in the creation of metadata. International cooperation between librarians to select resources. The article defines a workflow for cooperation in both fields, and proposes a library search engine to hold jointly created records and a catalogue of Websites online to support selection.

Examines the historical overview of library cooperatives, focusing on Baruch College, in the City University of New York. Describes its newly established programs on Asian and Asian‐American studies, its library’s collections on Chinese and Chinese cultural studies, the presence of Asian and Asian‐American students at Baruch, and career development activities both on campus and abroad. Describes the William and Anita Newman Library at Baruch and presents a library cooperative model at Ohio University in Athens where the author presented a paper in the First International Conference of Institutes and Libraries for Overseas Chinese Studies.

NORDINFO (The Nordic Council for Scientific Information) was founded in 1977 after a long tradition of Nordic cooperation within the research library field. The Council is responsible for coordinating Nordic cooperative initiatives that can facilitate access to scientific information. Prior to that, Nordic countries developed a variety of cooperative forms: political, economic, cultural and scientific. During its 20 years of operation, NORDINFO has financed many experimental projects and financially supported many conferences, seminars and smaller projects with the general aim that these projects should have benefit beyond each individual country. Projects included an interface, which was to serve as a tool to search databases in different countries and structured in different languages. NORDINFO also financed Centres of Excellence where Nordic expertise could be developed. NORDINFO operates on a budget provided by the Nordic Council of Ministers and is given a three‐year contract based on strategy which must be accepted by the board, consisting of one member from each of the five countries that finance Nordic cooperation.