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National Library News

November 1995, vol. 27, no. 11

Resource Sharing in Manitoba

by Carolynne Presser, Director of Libraries, University of Manitoba

The province of Manitoba has 62 libraries to support a population of slightly over one million. This library community was described by the National Library's 1990 report, Resource Sharing in Canada, as being characterized by diversity and disparity. The report further summarized Manitoba's libraries as diverse in its range and depth of collections, while the disparity of funding levels placed Manitoba institutions among the lowest-ranked jurisdictions.

In October 1986, Hope Clement, then Associate National Librarian, visited Manitoba to take part in the National Library's series of meetings across the country that gave librarians the opportunity to discuss resource sharing and sow the seeds for some exciting initiatives. Following the discussions at the October 1986 meeting, a group of librarians continued to meet and eventually formed the Manitoba Libraries Resource Sharing Group. This group considered a number of issues relating to increasing and encouraging resource sharing in the province and submitted a report, Networking Manitoba's Libraries in the Nineties: A Planning Framework, to the Manitoba government. Some 14 recommendations, including 11 relating to resource sharing, library automation and networking, were made to three ministers. The report called on the Manitoba government to implement these recommendations and thus help citizens to obtain more equitable and rapid access to Manitoba's existing library resources.

In the absence of coordinated support for the recommendations, members of the Manitoba Libraries Resource Sharing Group, determined to move ahead, formed the Manitoba Libraries Consortium Inc. The Consortium is an incorporated non-profit organization intended to plan and manage cooperatively projects and activities that will provide the citizens of Manitoba with better access to the province's library/information resources. The purpose of the Consortium is to facilitate effective and efficient resource sharing among libraries in Manitoba to strengthen the library services provided to the residents of the province. Any library system or library in Manitoba that actively supports the purpose of the Consortium can become a member by completing an application and paying the modest membership fee.

The Consortium initiates and coordinates projects and activities related to resource sharing and library networking, and maintains cooperative relationships with groups or agencies with similar goals. Examples of these projects and activities are:

LIBRARY EXPRESS, a priority interlibrary loan and daily courier service among participating libraries;
the exchange of information and expertise related to preservation, coordination of library preservation activities through the work of its Preservation Committee, and the creation and circulation of a kit, "The Care and Handling of Library Materials", which was assisted by a grant from the Manitoba Heritage Federation;
the establishment of a Manitoba Union List of Serials, with the advice and assistance of the National Library.

The most exciting initiative involving the Consortium is "Linking Libraries", a project funded by the province that uses leading-edge technologies to provide affordable and equitable access to information resources (see "Linking Libraries", National Library News, vol. 27, no. 9, September 1995, pp. 9-10). Linking libraries through telecommunication will help to create a virtual library setting that will provide all learners, early years through adult, with electronic access to library resources throughout Manitoba. The project, an outgrowth of the Manitoba Education and Training Distance Education Task Force report, calls on all libraries to coordinate efforts to make library information resources and services effective and accessible for all Manitoba learners. Manitoba libraries hope that these initiatives signal an interest in the role that libraries play as providers of information for the province's citizens.