1. Nationwide consortia: a Croatian experience
Jelka Petrak, BLS, PhD
University of Zagreb
School of Medicine
Central Medical Library
22/02/2019

2. Background informations Model of the Croatian “consortium” (CC)
Content
Background informations
Model of the Croatian “consortium” (CC)
Aims of the CC
Licensed resources
Pros & Cons
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3. Setting CROATIA – key facts 6 universities (all public)
Annual enrollment of university students
Academic staff in FTE ~10.000
Researchers in FTE ~8.500
Spending on R&D activities ~1% GDP
Ministry of Science, Education, and Sports (MSES) retains overall responsibility for the research and educational system and holds budgetary responsibility and control
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4. As a part of the national research infrastructure MSES supports…
Setting cont…
As a part of the national research infrastructure MSES supports…
publishing of local scientific journals (print + electronic) aiming at:
better visibility of local research results
preserving cultural identitity
raising public awareness and confidence in S&T
Portal HRČAK offers the access to more than 150 journals according to OAI principles
acquisition of the international journals
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5. Setting cont.
– MSES supported acqusition of print-based foreign scientific journals:
Academic and special libraries (affiliated to the research institutions) were classified according to 6 disciplines.
Subscription to international journals was supported by:
80% to a core library of each discipline
40% for others
Discipline-based, coordinated acquisition
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6. Online Databases Center
Online Databases Center was established in by the MSES, CARNet and Ruđer Bošković Institute.
The first licenced database was Current Contents via the Ovid platform
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7. Croatian Consortium [tentatively] Orientation
Participants orientation: academic&research institutions under the umbrella of the MSES
Purpose orientation: licensing and accessing of e-journals and databases
Client orientation: academic & research staff + students
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8. Consortium Model
Starting positions were based on experiences in print subsciptions.
Consortium consists of two arms:
Academic:
Members: all academic institutions, public institutes, polytechnics (6 universities + 3 polytechnics + 19 public institutes), National and University Library
Users: all staff + students
Access: IP dependent
Biomedical:
Members: <70 hospitals (teaching, general and special)
Access: password
22/02/2019

9. Model Characteristics
Centralized government funding (100%)
Acquisition of high-quality electronic resources
Licence agreements cover …e-journals, … databases …books (tablica)
Central service for libraries and end-users
Development of the national portal
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10. Aims Efficient information support to research and higher education
Rational use of funds
Promoting e-resources
Increasing the number of e-resources available to small institutions
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11. Responsabilities MSES : funding, licensing
CARNet: network infrastructure, technical support
Online Databases Center (ODC): selection of e-recources, portal maintenance, training programmes
CARNet + ODC = negotiating (licensing issues)
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12. Criteria for selecting resources
Relevance to scientific/academic community
Balanced/multidisciplinary subject coverage
Previous print subscription
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13. Criteria for selecting resources..cont
One licence is signed on behalf of all the participating members and one invoice is issued
Print subscriptions to journals available online were cancelled (if archival access is granted through the license)
Transition from paper-based to digital journal collections has progressed rapidly, supported by well-developed technical infracture (CARNet)
22/02/2019

14. Problems in 2009 Economic recession:
scientific infrastructure budgetary position grows weaker
25% subscriptions were cut off
financial constraints on the institution levels
22/02/2019

15. Resources subscribed for 2009
E-journals collections: ScienceDirect, LWW, Oxford Journals, Ebsco, Full Text
Bibliographic databases: Medline, Scopus, Current Contents, ISI Web of Science, Econlit, Agricola, Eric, GeoRef, Inspec, PsychInfo
Others: JCR, EBM collection (Cochrane+DARE+ACP Journal Club+NHS Economic Evaluation Database)
Cancelled (archive available): Springer, Wiley-Blackwell
22/02/2019

16. Final Remarks Pros: Cons: Favorable licence agreements Central funding
Central maintenance
Portal
PERO :: pretraživač elektroničkih izvora online
Extensive user education
Cons:
Insufficient flexibility
Insufficient influence of institutions and/or libraries
22/02/2019

17. If…
a consortium is a strategic alliance of institutions that have common interests
then …
members participating in the Croatian consortium do have common interests
but…
are allied mechanically, without any significant responsibility and influence
22/02/2019

18. Thanks for the attention!
22/02/2019