Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. China Academic Library and Information System: An academic library consortium in China Dai, Longji;Chen, Ling;Zhang, Hongyang Information Technology and Libraries; Jun 2000; 19, 2; ProQuest pg. 66 China Academic Library and Information System: An Academic Library Consortium in China Longji Dai, Ling Chen, and Hongyang Zhang Since its inception in 1998, China Academic Library and Information System (CALIS) has become the most important academic library consortium in China. CALIS is centrally funded and organized in a tiered structure. It currently consists of thirteen management or informa- tion centers and seventy member libraries' 700,000 stu- dents. After more than a year of development in information infrastructure, a CALIS resource-sharing network is gradually taking shape. L ike their counterparts in other countries, academic libraries in China are facing such thorny problems as shrinking budgets, growing patron demands, and rising costs for purchasing books and subscribing to periodicals. It has thus become increasingly difficult for a single library to serve its patrons to their satisfaction. Under these circumstances, the idea of resource sharing among academic libraries was born. Library consortia provide an organizational form for libraries to share their resources. The Georgia Library Learning Online (GALILEO), the Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA), and OhioLINK are among the well- known library consortia in the United States.I Traditionally, the primary purpose of establishing a library consortium is to share physical resources such as books and periodicals among members. More recently, however, advances in computer, information, and telecommunica- tion technologies have dramatically revolutionized the way in which information is acquired, stored, accessed, and transferred. Sharing electronic resources has rapidly become another important goal for library consortia. I What Is CALIS? In May 1998, as one of the two public service systems in "Project 211," the China Academic Library and Information System (CA LIS) project was approved by the State Development and Planning Commission of China after a two-year feasibility study by experts from aca- demic libraries across the country. CALIS is a nationwide academic library consortium. Funded primarily by the Chinese government, it is Longji Dai is Director, Peking University Library, and Deputy Director, CALIS Administrative Center; Ling Chen is Deputy Director, CALIS Administrative Center; and Hongyang Zhang is Deputy Director, Reference Department, Peking University Library. 66 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND LIBRARIES I JUNE 2000 intended to serve multiple resource-sharing functions among the participating libraries-including online searching, interlibrary loan, document delivery, and coor- dinated purchasing and cataloguing-by digitizing resources and developing an information service network. I Structure and Management of CALIS A library consortium is an alliance formed by member libraries on a voluntary basis to facilitate resource shar- ing in pursuit of common interests. Whether a consor- tium can operate successfully depends in large part on how it is managed. CALIS differs from library consortia in the United States in that it is a national network. It resembles multi- state consortia in the United States with respect to geo- graphic distribution of member libraries, but it is like tightly knit or even centrally funded statewide ones in terms of management.2 The CALIS members are distributed in twenty-seven provinces, cities, and autonomous regions in China, mak- ing an entirely centralized management difficult. After surveying some of the major library consortia in the United States, Europe, and Russia, CALIS adopted an organizational mode characterized by a combination of both centralized and localized management-that is, a three-tiered structure (figure 1). In order to improve the management efficiency and maximize the sharing of various resources including funds, CALIS has established a coordination and man- agement network comprising one national administra- tive center (which also serves as the North Regional Center), five national information centers (see table 1) and seven regional information centers (see table 2). The thirteen centers are maintained by full-time staff mem- bers provided by the libraries in which these centers are located. The National Administrative Center (located in Peking University)-overseen by officials from the con- cerned office at the Ministry of Education and the presi- dents of Peking and Tsinghua Universities and advised by an advisory committee consisting of experts from major member libraries-is responsible for the construc- tion and management of CALIS, makes policies and reg- ulations, and prepares resource-sharing agreements. The center has an office handling routine management needs and several specialized work groups overseeing CALIS' national projects, such as those for the development of databases for union catalogues, current Chinese periodi- cals, and CALIS' service software. Under the guidance of the National Administrative Center, five national information centers are each respon- sible for building and maintaining an information system Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. in one of five general areas-humanities, social science, and science; engineering and technology; agriculture and forestry; medicine; and national defense-in coordina- tion with regional centers and member libraries. The host libraries where these centers are located possess rela- tively abundant collections in their respective areas. These centers, which are intended to be information bases that cover all major disciplines of science, are responsible for importing databases for sharing and con- structing resource-sharing networks among member libraries and for providing searching and document delivery services to member libraries. 5 national information centers 8 regional information centers 70 member libraries Depending on their location, academic libraries in China are divided into eight groups, with each forming a regional library consortium. Each regional consortium is overseen by a regional management center, except for the consortium in the north, which is directly managed by the national management center. The regional centers not only participate in nationwide projects in coordination with the national centers and other Figure 1. The Three-Tiered Structure of CALIS regional centers, but they also are responsible for promoting coopera- tion among libraries in their particu- lar regions. All the centers are located in member universities and staffed by the host universities. The concerned vice president or library director of a host university is in charge of the associated center. The regional centers also are assisted by regional coordina- tion committees and advisory com- mittees of provincial and municipal officials in charge of education; uni- versity presidents; library directors; and senior librarians in the concerned Table 2. Table 1. Five National Information Centers Areas of specialization Humanities , Social Science and Science Engineering and Technology Agriculture and Forestry Medicine National Defense Location Peking University, Beijing Tsinghua University , Beijing China Agricultural University, Beijing Beijing Medical University, Beijing Haerbin Industrial University, Haerbin, Heilongjiang Regional Information Centers and Areas of The ir Jurisdiction Name National Administrative Center Southeast (South) Regional Center Southeast (North) Regional Center Central Regional Center South Regional Center Southwest Regional Center Northwest Regional Center Northeast Regional Center Location Beijing Shanghai Nanjing Wuhan Guanzhou Chengdu Xi'an Jilin Areas of juristiction Beijing, Tianjin , Hebei, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangxi Jiangsu, Anhui, and Shandong Hubei, Hunan, and Henan Guangdong, Hainan, and Guangxi Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, and Guizhou Shanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, and Xinjiang Jilin, Liaoning, and Heilongjiang CHINA ACADEMIC LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SYSTEM I DAI, CHEN, AND ZHANG 67 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. regions. These committees serve a coordinating role in the regions. I Funding The development and operation of CALIS has been funded in large part by the Chinese government. The sources of funding for CALIS at the present time are as follows: • Government grants. Much of the funds for the CALIS project during the first phase of construction came from the government. Because of the demonstrated benefits of the ongoing project, it is expected that the government will provide funds for the second phase of CALIS construction. These government funds have been used in the purchase of software and hardware for the CALIS centers and commer- cial databases, development of service software and databases, training of staff members, etc. • Local matching funds. According to prior agree- ments, a province or city that desires to have a regional center is required to provide funds in sup- plementation to the government funds for the con- struction of its local center. • Member library funds. These funds, primarily derived from the university budgets, have been used to purchase electronic resources and cover the expenses incurred from the use of the CALIS service software platforms. Although CALIS is currently funded by the govern- ment, the future expansion and operation of the system is expected to rely in large part on other sources of fun_ds. The funding needs for CALIS may be met by operating the system in a commercial mode. I Principles for Cooperation among Members The successful operation of a library consortium clearly depends on good working relationships among members and between members and the consortium. At CALIS, all members are required to adhere to a set of principles (see below) in dealing with these relationships. It is based on these principles, known as the CALIS Princ~ples for Cooperation among Members, that CALIS pohc1es and rules are made. • The common interests of CALIS are above those of individual member libraries. 68 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND LIBRARIES I JUNE 2000 • • • • Member libraries should not cooperate at the expense of the interests of others. CALIS provides services to member libraries for no profit. Member libraries are all equal and enjoy the same privileges. Larger member libraries are obliged to make more contributions. I What Has Been Achieved? When it was first established, CALIS had sixty-one mem- ber libraries from major universities participating in "Project 211." Later, as many other major universities were interested in joining the alliance, the number of CALIS members has climbed to seventy. At the present, CALIS serves about 700,000 students. Construction of CALIS is a long-term, strategic undertaking. The system provides service functions as they become available and is constantly being improved in the process. In the first phase (1998 to 2000) of the proj- ect, CALIS successfully started the following informa- tion-sharing functions in its member libraries: • primary and secondary data searching; • interlibrary borrowing and lending; • document delivery; • coordinated purchasing; and • online cataloguing. The following tasks have been completed: • purchase of computer hardware (e.g., SUN E~S00); • construction of a CERN et- or Internet-based infor- mation-sharing network connecting academic libraries across the country; and • group purchase of databases, such as UMI, EBSCO, EI Village, INSPEC, Elsevier, and Web of Science, that are shared among member libraries either directly online or indirectly through requested service/ document delivery. CALIS also has completed development of a number of databases, including: • • Union Catalogues. These databases currently con- tain 500,000 bibliographic records of the Chinese and Western language books and periodicals in all member libraries. Dissertation Abstracts and Conference Proceedings . These databases now contain abstracts of doctoral dissertations (12,000 bibliographic records) and pro- ceedings of national and international conferences (8,000 records) collected from more than thirty Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. memb er librarie s. The databa ses are expected to ha ve 40,000 record s in total by the end of 2000. • Current Chinese Periodicals. Th ese databases (5,000 titl es, 1.5 milli on bibliographic records) cont ain cont ents and indexes of current Chinese pe rio di- cals from about thirt y member libraries. • Key Disciplines Databases. CALIS has sponsor ed the de ve lopment of twe nt y- fiv e di scip line-sp eci fic d a tabases by m em ber librarie s. Each of thes e dat a- bc.ses contains about 50,000 to 100,000 record s. The first three class es of databases are prepared in the USMARC, UN IMARC, or CCFC format for the ease of u se b y patron s and ca ta loguing s taff and in data exchang e. Clients from member librari es may perform a Web-ba sed sear ch of th e above databa ses. Most of th em contain secondary docum en ts and ab str acts, and access CALIS onl ine resources using brows ers. Deve lopm ent of sofhvare platform s includes the fol- lowing: • Cooperative online cataloguing systems. The syst ems includ e protocol 239.50-based searc h and upl oad - in g serve rs and terminal softw are platforms for cataloguing staff. Acquisition and ca taloguin g staff in each memb er library m ay participate in cooper- ativ e online cataloguing using the terminal sof t- ware platform s on their local sys tem . Th e sys tems have been u sed for the devel opment and operation of the union catalogue databa ses. • Systems for database development. These syst ems can be used in the de velopment of shared databa ses con- taining secondary data informati on in USMARC, UNIMARC, CCFC, or Dublin Core format. The sys- tems for dat abase developm ent in the USMARC, UNIMARC, or CCFC format s are equipp ed with a search server based on the 239.50 protocol to permit use by catalo guing staff and for data exchange . • A n interlibrary loan system. The sys tem, d eve loped base d on the ISO10160/10161 protocol, consists of ILL protocol machines and clien t terminal s. These sys tems, locat ed in memb er libr aries, are interco n- nected to form a CALIS interl ibrar y loan n etw ork. Primar y document deliv ery sof tware bas ed on the FTP protocol also has been developed for the de livery of scann ed docum ent s between libr aries. • An OPAC system. The system has both Web /239. 50 a nd Web / ILL ga teways . Patron s may visit the sys- tem using co mmon brow sers , sea rch all CALIS NEW! LITA Publications Getting the Most Out of Web-based Surveys by David Ward • 2000 $20 ($18 LITA members) ISBN 0838981089 Surv eys help evalu ate user service s, rat e diff e r e nt librar y programs, facili- tat e n ee ds assess m ents , a id fa cul ty research , a nd mor e. Posti ng surv eys to the W eb provide s an easy and con- veni en t way to reach in ten ded aud i- Getting the Most Out of Web-Based Survey s enc es, cen tralizes data collection a n d gives librari a ns gre ater contro l over analyz ing and repor ting results . Thi s guide shows ho w to create r ob u st W eb-ba se d sur - veys, a nd t h e n gather a nd ass imil ate t h e ir da ta for u se in common database a nd spre adsh eet programs. Th e auth or h as applied th e techniques described in hi s own work and has desi gned both comm ercial and acad emic Web sites . Digital Imaging of Photographs: A Practical Approach to Workflow Design and Project Management by Lisa Macklin and Sarah Lockmiller• 1999 $20 ($18 LITA members) • ISBN 0838980058 A com pre hens ive app roach to man agement of digit al im ag ing in libr aries a nd archi ves , from archival nega tives to meta- data ca taloging a nd Web -base d access. Getting Mileage Out of Meta data: Applications for the Library by Jean Hudgins, Grace Agnew, and Elizabeth Brown 1999 • $22 ($19.20 LITA members)• ISBN 0838980066 An overview of the state-of-the-art metadata cataloging and curr ently ava ilabl e metadata standa rds, incl uding compr e- hen sive descr iption s an d links to current a pplications. Other LITA publications and a printable order form can be found at www.lita.org/litapubs/index.html. Fax orders to (312) 836-9958 or call 800-545-2433, press 7 (M-F, 8-5 CST). CHINA ACADEMIC LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SYSTEM I DAI, CHEN, AND ZHANG 69 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. databases, and send search results directly to the CALIS interlibrary loan service. Patrons also may access an ILL server through Web/ILL, tracking the status of submitted interlibrary loan requests, inquiring about fees, and so on. The databases that are centrally located and those that are distributed at various locations as well as service plat- forms in member libraries form a CALIS information service network. I Future Considerations In a period of just over a year, considerable progress has been made in forming a nationwide resource-sharing library consortium in China. However, because member libraries vary in size, available funds, staff quality, and automation level, CALIS has yet to realize its potential. There are a number of problems that remain to be solved. For example, the CALIS union catalogue databases do not work well on some of the old automation systems in member libraries and the CALIS service platforms are incompatible with a dozen automation systems currently in use; as a result, the union catalogues cannot tell the real-time circulation status in all member libraries, affect- ing interlibrary loan service. In addition, primary 70 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND LIBRARIES I JUNE 2000 resources are not sufficiently abundant. Therefore, the extent to which resources are shared among member libraries remains quite limited. In the next phase of development, CALIS will improve service systems (including hardware and soft- ware platforms) and the distribution of shared databases. At the same time, CALIS will develop more electronic resource databases and be actively involved in the research and development of digital libraries, expanding the scale and extent of resource sharing. References 1. Barbara A. Winters, "Access and Ownership in the 21st Century: Development of Virtual Collection in Consortia! Settings," in Electronic Resources and Consortia (Taiwan: Science and Technology Information Center, 1999), 163-80; Katherine A. Perry, "VIVA (The Virtual Library of Virginia): Virtual Management of Information, in Electronic Resources and Consortia (Taiwan: Science and Technology Information Center, 1999), 93-114; Delmus E. Williams, "Living in a Cooperative World: Meeting Local Needs Through OhioLINK," in Electronic Resources and Consortia, Ching-Chin Chen, ed. (Taiwan: Science and Technology Information Center, 1999), 137-61. 2. Jordan M. Scepanski, "Collaborating on New Missions: Library Consortia and the Future of Academic Libraries," in Proceedings of the International Conference on New Missions of Academic Libraries in the 21st Century, Duan Xiaoqing and He Zhaohui, eds. (Peking: Peking Univ. Pr., 1998), 271-75.