Toward“The Perfection of Work”

Abstract

Abstract The decade of the 1890s was a watershed period for library cooperation in America. A century later, another milestone has been reached as new consortia are created primarily for the purpose of providing cost-effective access to electronic resources. This paper provides a brief history of library cooperation in America, with emphasis on the latter half of the 20th century. Motives for library cooperation, along with potential obstacles and keys to success are identified, and a nexus between service quality improvement and library cooperation is noted. The role of library consortia in the current electronic environment is described, with particular emphasis on the 1990s, during which the Internet has matured and became widely available. Finally, prospects for the future of library consortia are outlined, with a description of key environmental factors that will affect them.