Cooperation in Libraries

We collaborate to expand knowledge

The expansion of library consortiums at a European level is a phenomenon that appeared in the 1990s. In Catalonia, the CSUC is the entity that ensures that cooperation between university libraries and other entities in the territory is a success. The aim is to encourage access to more information and strengthen the negotiating capacity of contracts, as well as to provide technical support to all libraries to ensure quality library services.

Through the CSUC, libraries benefit from this collaboration in two ways: of time, because users can consult and discover collections from a single interface; and economical, because it allows them to reduce costs thanks to economies of scale.

More services at a lower cost

• The CCUC reduces the time for users to search and discover information thanks to a unique interface that searches the collections of all the libraries that make it up. At the same time, it saves on costs by taking advantage of records that others have cataloged.
• The Interlibrary Loan allows users to request documents from other libraries, encouraging savings in bibliographic acquisitions and reducing administrative and financial management.
• The GEPA stores low-use documents and allows areas for books to be converted into zones by users, doing it jointly to save costs and space.
• The BDC provides access to scientific information from leading publishers worldwide, reducing purchase and subscription costs through experience and economies of scale.