Seminar Kebangsaan Sumber
Elektronik di Malaysia : 5-7 Dis 2012
12 years of MOLEC : MOLEC dalam masa 12 tahun
Nor Edzan Haji Che Nasir
Consortium
• Library consortium/consortia – has been around since the
1960s
• Now – library consortium/consortia centers around
electronic information sources
• Academic libraries
– Users - demand access to a wider spectrum of information sources
– Budget – either shrinking or static
– Information sources – migration to digital, faster access, increasing
cost
• Defining consortium
– A collectivity of any group of libraries towards a common
goal ~ Prakash, 2005.
– Two or more institutions or organisations that have formally
agreed to cooperate or consolidate certain functions to
achieve mutual objectives ~ Moorthy, 2009.
– The collaborative acquisition of access rights to electronic
databases and journals ~ Varaprasad and Madhusudhan,
2010.
Consortium
• Primary aim of a consortium –achieve as a group what a
member cannot achieve individually
• Involves homogenous institutions with a common focus
• Formation can be local, regional, functional or subject
based
• Types
– Open consortium, Closed consortium, Centrally-funded,
Shared budget, Publishers’ initiative, National consortium,
International consortium
• Management of a consortium – the presence of a
committee that links consortium members to vendors/
publishers and deals with financial and legal aspects
Consortia in Asia Pacific
• Involving academic libraries + electronic content
licensing + participating consortia in ICOLC :
– Australia – CAUL (Council of Australian University
Libraries)
– India – UGCINFONETDLC - UGCINFONET Digital Library
Consortium
– Japan – JUSTICE - Japan Alliance of University Library
Consortia for E-Resources
– Korea – KESLI - Korean Electronic Site License Initiative
– New Zealand – EPIC - Electronic Purchasing In
Collaboration
– Taiwan – CONCERT - CONsortium on Core Electronic
Resources in Taiwan
MALAYSIA
• The National Library & academic libraries – have been
sharing resources since the 1960s – NUC, ILL, DDS,
library usage
• PERPUN - Persidangan Perpustakaan Universiti dan
Negara
• Now - consortium looking after commercial databases
MOLEC
• JKK PDK (Jawatankuasa Kecil Pangkalan Data Komersil
= Commercial Database Sub Committee) set up in 2000
under PERDANA (Sistem Perpustakaan Digital Negara =
National Digital Library System)
• Main function – coordinates pricing of commercial
databases since there were obvious differences in
pricing
of commercial databases
offered by
publishers/vendors to academic libraries
• 1st meeting – 21 March 2000 held at Tun Seri Lanang
Library, UKM in Bangi
• 12 public and private university libraries
MOLEC
• Changed name to JKPDK (Jawatankuasa Pangkalan
Data Komersil = Commercial Database Committee)
• Changed name again in 2010 – Malaysian OnLine EResources Consortium = MOLEC
– National Library, 20 public university libraries, 5 GLC
university libraries, 6 government/non government agency
libraries = 32
– Current Chair & Secretariat = UM Library
• Objective of the consortium
– Establishes the concept of resource sharing of commercial
databases
– Subscribes to commercial databases as a consortium
• Scope – all commercial databases
Why a consortium?
• Shrinking/static budget
• Increasing number of journals
• Increasing cost of journals
• Increasing demand from users for more resources
• Research-based universities – access to more sources to
support their research activities
• Requirements set by publishers/vendors
What do we do?
• Identify, study, evaluate & manage negotiations for
subscription to commercial databases
• Identify ways to address various Government policies &
regulations with regards to subscription of non-Malaysian
commercial databases
• Source for funds from MOHE
• Conduct workshops/courses/seminars
experiences & ideas
–
sharing
• Invite publishers/vendors for product presentations
• Meet once every two months or when necessary
of
12 years of MOLEC
• Developed the Garis Panduan Perolehan Sumber
Maklumat Elektronik = Guidelines for the Acquisition of
Electronic Information Sources
• Obtained funding from MOHE for subscription to online
databases and one time purchase of electronic books
– 2010 to 2012 : ProQuest Dissertation & Thesis Fulltext
• Bernama Library & Infolink Service (BLIS)
• Scopus
• EBSCO Academic Source Premier and Business Source
Complete
• IEEE
• NetLibrary EBooks
– 2013 to 2015 : have applied
• Every member has to provide a listing of all their
subscribed databases & all freely available databases &
e-journals on their website
12 years of MOLEC
• Workshops and documentation usage, negotiation skills,
ROI, evaluation of vendors
• Maintains
– MyULIS (Malaysian Union List of Serials)
– Master List of Commercial Databases
– Master List of Backfiles/Archives
Future plans?
• Register as a participating consortia in ICOLC
• Increase membership especially from private higher
education institutions to strengthen the consortium
• Collective negotiations with publishers to curb spiraling
price increases
• Explore other existing electronic resources consortia to
benchmark for best practices
• Develop new consortial models incorporating new
pricing models and licensing practices
• Formation of a national consortium with government
funding for country wide access to electronic resources
References
Francis, A.T. 2005. Library consortia model for country wide
access of electronic journals and databases. Int Conf on
Multilingual Computing and Information Management in
Networked Digital Environment, 2-4 February 2005.
International Coalition of Library Consortia. 2010. ICOLC.
http://www.icolc.net
Moorthy, A.L. 2009. DRDO e-journals consortium. Journal
of Library & Information Technology, 29(5), 18-23.
Ossai, N.B. 2010. Consortia building among libraries in
Africa, and the Nigerian experience. Collaborative
Librarianship, 2(2) : 74-85.
Parkash, A. J. 2005. Role of e-journals consortium in 21st
century. 3rd Convention Planner, 10-11 November 2005.
Varaprasad, S.J.D. and S. Madhusudhan. 2010. E-journal
consortium: is it a success story always? Journal of
Library & Information Technology, 30(2), 92-96.
Thank You
edzan@um.edu.my