Purchasing consortia: trends and activity in the UK

In recent years libraries worldwide have been affected by an uncertain financial environment in which resource buying has been restricted, causing them to look at ways of extending their purchasing capabilities to compensate for reduced budgets. In the UK, the British Library Research & Innovation Centre (BLRIC) has recently awarded a grant to Bournemouth University Library & Information Services to investigate the activities of library purchasing consortia in four types of library: higher education, further education, public and health libraries. The project remit also includes a study of library suppliers in the deregulated marketplace following the abolition of the UK Net Book Agreement in autumn 1995. This paper charts the progress of the research that has identified a number of LIS consortia, focuses on the context that has encouraged their formation and presents early findings that illuminate cooperative purchasing activities.