Fenway Library Consortium

Overview

The Fenway Library Consortium serves a diverse group of users affiliated with fifteen institutions, including the students and faculty of thirteen colleges, the staff of a museum and the students of its affiliated school of art, and the patrons of a public library. Each Consortium member offers special subject strengths in various formats including print, non-print and electronic media.

Beginning in 1975 as a group of neighborhood libraries offering reciprocal borrowing privileges through Walk-In Interlibrary Loan (WILL), the Fenway Library Consortium evolved from the idea that libraries conveniently reached by public transportation could more effectively support their users’ information needs effectively by the sharing of resources and services. During its more than thirty-year existence, the consortium has cooperatively addressed issues such as: user services, shared collection management, information sharing, and staff training and development.

Mission Statement:

The Fenway Libraries Consortium enriches the educational, intellectual, informational and social aspirations of our users through the cooperative provision of superior quality library resources and services.

Goals:

• Goal 1.0: Provide constituent access to member collections and information resources
  • Objective 1.1: Offer onsite reciprocal borrowing service (Walk-In Interlibrary Loan)
• Goal 2.0: Provide means for sharing information with users and amongst member libraries
  • Objective 2.1: Maintain an FLC web page which provides links to information about FLC, links to its individual members, and to Fenway Libraries Online
  • Objective 2.2: Provide a forum for FLC Directors to meet regularly and share collegially in the work of the Consortium.
    • 2.2.1: Identify topics each year that will be the featured agenda item of a Board of Director's meeting.

• Objective 2.3: Facilitate staff training and development opportunities that enhance each institution’s ability to serve users
  • 2.3.1: Conduct staff training/development workshops
  • 2.3.2: Conduct staff tours of member libraries
• Objective 2.4: Gather, compile and share specific information from intra-consortia surveys

• Goal 3.0: Contribute to the development of institutional collections
  • Objective 3.1: Explore and implement ways to leverage consortial and network connections
    • 3.1.1: Explore options for the group acquisition and/or the access or otherwise sharing of information resources not available through other library cooperatives
    • 3.1.2: Explore the feasibility of consortium-wide collection analysis
  • Objective 3.2: Explore the development of member library-created digital collections
    • 3.2.1: Identify existing digital collections, and potential collections for digitization