Wuhan Library Consortium Founded to Offer Open Access to Library Resources
SIX libraries in the Wuhan City, including the City Library and 5 university libraries from Wuhan University, the Huazhong University of Science & Technology, the Central China Normal University, Hubei University and Jianghan University, jointly initiated the “Wuhan Library Consortium” on April 15 to make library resources of the area available to the public.
The university libraries in Wuhan stands in the front rank in China in terms of the wealthy materials they hold -- in the print material category, just the Wuhan University Library alone has a total collection of more than 5 million books, and holdings of the other university members average up to 3 million items. They are more specialised in various disciplinary collections, as compared to the public libraries, so the condition of the establishment of a complementary service alliance based on library resources is already ripe.
A union catalogue will be set up to allow search for materials held by any of the six member libraries, and will be opened to the public through a number of different channels. The one-stop check out/in service will also be available among the member libraries in a step-by-step manner.
The Consortium will, according to the director of the Wuhan Library Ms. Li JIngxia, regularly organise lectures, exhibitions, mobile library services and promotions in neighborhoods, schools, villages and construction sites to help more people access and use the library resources.
The Wuhan University Library has become the first university library in the area to open its door to the city dwellers. It will also work with the township administrations to build community libraries and construction site reading rooms. More university libraries will soon open to the public at no charge.
(Source: Xinhuanet.com)