The CONCERT (Consortium on Core Electronic Resources in Taiwan) is a nonprofit library consortium of more than 200 colleges, universities and research/government organizations operated by STPI.  In April, two of the CONCERT delegates represented Taiwan to participate in the annual conference hosted by the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) in Los Angeles, USA.  They are Ms. Meng-Ling Lin (associate researcher) and Ms. Chia-Ning Li (assistant researcher). They joined the representatives from library consortia in Europe and the United States to discuss topics related to scholarly communication and the management and development of library consortia.

The ICOLC 2024 featured a total of 18 sessions in various sizes including keynote speeches, panel discussions, and group discussions. The content covered four main themes, which are the development of Open Access and transformative agreements, controlled digital lending, resource sharing mechanisms, and the impact of AI on libraries. Subtopics included consortia management and development, consortia value demonstration, succession planning, ebook lending, open access publishing, and the latest news from publishers. Approximately 120 attendees participated in this annual conference, representing 65 library consortia from North America and Europe, including the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, as well as countries from Asia such as Japan and Taiwan.

(Above) ICOLC discussion session

Open Access (OA) has been developing for over 20 years, while the development of transformative agreements for journals has been ongoing for nearly 10 years. At this year's conference, the opening session featured a presentation by the University Librarian of the California Digital Library (CDL), outlining CDL's principles and implementation of OA. The conference also shifted its focus to performance evaluation of implementing transformative agreements. This evaluation was overviewed by consortia primarily focused on publishing, those primarily focused on reading, and those at the national level promoting OA, each outlining the implementation status and performance evaluation plans of transformative agreements.  Due to the uniqueness of publishing industry in Taiwan, the consortia signed transformative agreements later than those in Europe and the United States. The experiences of European and American consortia are good examples for CONCERT and academic libraries in Taiwan to learn from.

Controlled digital lending, resource sharing mechanisms, and the impact of AI development on libraries are currently hot topics in the library community in Europe and America. In the era of globalization, the development of these issues also profoundly affects the library community in Taiwan. Through discussions and opinions exchanges with representatives and executives of various consortia, professionals from various fields present at the annual conference can enhance their knowledge and practical experience. It has been also understood that, in the face of rapid technological changes, library consortia and individual libraries need to maintain an open mindset as well as to learn and innovate continuously in order to enhance the possibility of improving service efficiency and influence.

(Above) Photo with representatives from Japan Consortia JUSTICE