TOC


500 College & Research Libraries July 2001

Editorial 

International Library Cooperation: 
We Have Come a Long Way and 
Have a Long Way to Go 

Five years ago (August 1996), I partici­
pated in the first China–U.S. Library Con­
ference in Beijing. In August 2001, I par­
ticipated in the second China–U.S. 
Library Conference. The second meeting 
was held in the Flushing (Queens Bor­
ough) Public Library in New York. Much 
progress in library cooperation has oc­
curred in the time between the two meet­
ings. Both conferences were purposefully 
limited in attendance and highly focused 
in content. Four themes were addressed 
at the Flushing conference: information 
policy, resource-sharing, human re­
sources, and the role of libraries in inter­
national developments. Originally signed 
in 1996, the agreement between the Na­
tional Library of China and the Queens 
(N.Y.) Public Library was resigned at the 
Flushing conference. This agreement in­
cludes various joint projects, including 
the exchange of library staff, exhibits, and 
technology. 

The Global Virtual Library 
The dream of developing a global virtual 
library is becoming closer to reality. Of 
course, technology is the driving force in 
the realization of international resource-
sharing. The greatest strides in coopera­
tion will occur in the sharing of electronic 
resources. We in the United States are wit­
nessing more cooperation/resource-shar­
ing in the use of electronic resources than 
in sharing books. It was only a few years 
ago that libraries in China would not share 
books with libraries across the street. Al­
though much of this hostile/competitive 
attitude has subsided, it still exists in some 
Asian countries. Because of the difficulty 

in getting books cleared through customs, 
the ability of some countries to share books 
does not exist. Although database-sharing 
also presents problems, databases are 
easier to deal with thanks to advances in 
telecommunications. Site licenses and 
other issues requiring legal disentangle­
ments are significant bugbears associated 
with electronic databases in the U.S. as well 
as abroad. New digital and telecommuni­
cation technologies offer possibilities for 
improving resource-sharing and for pro­
moting collaborative collection develop­
ment. 

Obstacles/Challenges 
One could surmise that the lack of money/ 
technology is the major obstacle in the 
path of developing a global virtual library. 
It is true that many countries simply do 
not have the funds to purchase the nec­
essary computers/telecommunication 
systems. Unfortunately, the digital divide 
widens. Some countries do not have the 
means for effective interconnection with 
other telecommunication systems. Not­
withstanding the lack of money/equip­
ment, however, the greatest obstacle is the 
lack of policies that either promote or pro­
hibit cooperation. Some countries do not 
enjoy the freedom to share information 
with other countries. Overcoming limited 
experience with the outside world and 
dealing with limited knowledge of other 
cultures are challenges that are not given 
appropriate consideration by planners of 
library cooperation. The inability to meet 
required language competencies is cer­
tainly a factor that affects international 
library cooperation.1 Moreover, copyright 

500 



Editorial 501 

in the electronic era has become even 
more complex. Copyright laws must be 
followed and respected throughout the 
world; this vital issue was addressed dur­
ing the second China–U.S. Library Coop­
eration Conference. 

Finally, I would be remiss if the infor­
mation infrastructure were not included 
as a challenge. Essentially, an information 
infrastructure consists of four compo­
nents: software, hardware, human re­
sources, and data/information. Several 
developing countries cannot participate 
in international library cooperation be­
cause of the lack of one or more of these 
components. 

Opportunities 
There are many opportunities to improve 
international library cooperation, and 
many more will be on the horizon in the 
near future based on advancing technol­
ogy. Several of these obstacles/opportu­
nities will be with us for some time; we 
should exploit the existing opportunities 
for improving the sharing and delivery 
of information throughout the world. A 
good case in point is the University of 
Pittsburgh’s successful efforts to imple­
ment a document delivery system with 
libraries in China, Hong Kong, and Tai­
wan. Known as the Gateway Service Cen­
ter for Chinese Journal Articles, this ac­
tivity was funded by the Institute for 
Museum and Library Services. An obvi­

ous opportunity that should be exploited 
is the sharing of human resources. Some 
librarian exchange programs already are 
in place; however, some countries have 
not participated in these exchange pro­
grams and should be provided the avenue 
to do so. Human expertise is one of the 
library’s greatest assets, and it should be 
continually strengthened. Unlimited op­
portunities abound in creating and facili­
tating library cooperation conferences 
among various countries. Eventually, this 
will become a common practice through­
out the world. 

Conclusion 
International library cooperation will 
not—and should not—occur by happen­
stance. Careful and thoughtful planning 
with superb organization is required to 
promote cooperation among the world’s 
libraries. The China–U.S. library confer­
ences could serve as a model for other, 
similar conferences. The reality of a glo­
bal virtual library is approaching; how­
ever, there are many gaps in the infra­
structure that must be filled. The 
technology of the global virtual library 
may be realized before some of the hu­
man elements (e.g., freedom, cultural dif­
ferences) are resolved. In time, via inter­
national library cooperation we will 
achieve collectively what no one nation 
can achieve individually—a classic ex­
ample of synergy. 

DONALD E. RIGGS 
Editor, College & Research Libraries 

Note 

1. Ching-chih Chen, Planning Global Information Infrastructure (Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Pub­
lishing, 1995). 

















<<
  /ASCII85EncodePages false
  /AllowTransparency false
  /AutoPositionEPSFiles true
  /AutoRotatePages /All
  /Binding /Left
  /CalGrayProfile (Dot Gain 20%)
  /CalRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1)
  /CalCMYKProfile (U.S. Web Coated \050SWOP\051 v2)
  /sRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1)
  /CannotEmbedFontPolicy /Warning
  /CompatibilityLevel 1.3
  /CompressObjects /Tags
  /CompressPages true
  /ConvertImagesToIndexed true
  /PassThroughJPEGImages true
  /CreateJobTicket false
  /DefaultRenderingIntent /Default
  /DetectBlends true
  /DetectCurves 0.0000
  /ColorConversionStrategy /CMYK
  /DoThumbnails false
  /EmbedAllFonts true
  /EmbedOpenType false
  /ParseICCProfilesInComments true
  /EmbedJobOptions true
  /DSCReportingLevel 0
  /EmitDSCWarnings false
  /EndPage -1
  /ImageMemory 1048576
  /LockDistillerParams false
  /MaxSubsetPct 1
  /Optimize true
  /OPM 1
  /ParseDSCComments true
  /ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo true
  /PreserveCopyPage true
  /PreserveDICMYKValues true
  /PreserveEPSInfo true
  /PreserveFlatness false
  /PreserveHalftoneInfo true
  /PreserveOPIComments false
  /PreserveOverprintSettings true
  /StartPage 1
  /SubsetFonts false
  /TransferFunctionInfo /Apply
  /UCRandBGInfo /Preserve
  /UsePrologue false
  /ColorSettingsFile ()
  /AlwaysEmbed [ true
  ]
  /NeverEmbed [ true
  ]
  /AntiAliasColorImages false
  /CropColorImages false
  /ColorImageMinResolution 151
  /ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
  /DownsampleColorImages true
  /ColorImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
  /ColorImageResolution 300
  /ColorImageDepth -1
  /ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 1
  /ColorImageDownsampleThreshold 1.10000
  /EncodeColorImages true
  /ColorImageFilter /DCTEncode
  /AutoFilterColorImages true
  /ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG
  /ColorACSImageDict <<
    /QFactor 0.15
    /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
  >>
  /ColorImageDict <<
    /QFactor 0.15
    /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
  >>
  /JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict <<
    /TileWidth 256
    /TileHeight 256
    /Quality 30
  >>
  /JPEG2000ColorImageDict <<
    /TileWidth 256
    /TileHeight 256
    /Quality 30
  >>
  /AntiAliasGrayImages false
  /CropGrayImages false
  /GrayImageMinResolution 151
  /GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
  /DownsampleGrayImages true
  /GrayImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
  /GrayImageResolution 300
  /GrayImageDepth -1
  /GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 2
  /GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 1.10000
  /EncodeGrayImages true
  /GrayImageFilter /DCTEncode
  /AutoFilterGrayImages true
  /GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG
  /GrayACSImageDict <<
    /QFactor 0.15
    /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
  >>
  /GrayImageDict <<
    /QFactor 0.15
    /HSamples [1 1 1 1] /VSamples [1 1 1 1]
  >>
  /JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict <<
    /TileWidth 256
    /TileHeight 256
    /Quality 30
  >>
  /JPEG2000GrayImageDict <<
    /TileWidth 256
    /TileHeight 256
    /Quality 30
  >>
  /AntiAliasMonoImages false
  /CropMonoImages false
  /MonoImageMinResolution 600
  /MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
  /DownsampleMonoImages true
  /MonoImageDownsampleType /Bicubic
  /MonoImageResolution 1200
  /MonoImageDepth -1
  /MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.16667
  /EncodeMonoImages true
  /MonoImageFilter /CCITTFaxEncode
  /MonoImageDict <<
    /K -1
  >>
  /AllowPSXObjects false
  /CheckCompliance [
    /None
  ]
  /PDFX1aCheck false
  /PDFX3Check false
  /PDFXCompliantPDFOnly false
  /PDFXNoTrimBoxError true
  /PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [
    0.00000
    0.00000
    0.00000
    0.00000
  ]
  /PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true
  /PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [
    0.00000
    0.00000
    0.00000
    0.00000
  ]
  /PDFXOutputIntentProfile ()
  /PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier ()
  /PDFXOutputCondition ()
  /PDFXRegistryName ()
  /PDFXTrapped /False

  /CreateJDFFile false
  /Description <<
    /ENU (IPC Print Services, Inc. Please use these settings with InDesign CS4 \(6.x\). These settings should work well for every type of job; B/W, Color or Spot Color. Contact Pre-press Helpdesk at prepress_helpdesk@ipcprintservices.com if you have questions or need customized settings.)
  >>
  /Namespace [
    (Adobe)
    (Common)
    (1.0)
  ]
  /OtherNamespaces [
    <<
      /AsReaderSpreads false
      /CropImagesToFrames true
      /ErrorControl /WarnAndContinue
      /FlattenerIgnoreSpreadOverrides false
      /IncludeGuidesGrids false
      /IncludeNonPrinting false
      /IncludeSlug false
      /Namespace [
        (Adobe)
        (InDesign)
        (4.0)
      ]
      /OmitPlacedBitmaps false
      /OmitPlacedEPS false
      /OmitPlacedPDF false
      /SimulateOverprint /Legacy
    >>
    <<
      /AddBleedMarks true
      /AddColorBars false
      /AddCropMarks true
      /AddPageInfo true
      /AddRegMarks false
      /BleedOffset [
        9
        9
        9
        9
      ]
      /ConvertColors /ConvertToCMYK
      /DestinationProfileName (U.S. Web Coated \(SWOP\) v2)
      /DestinationProfileSelector /DocumentCMYK
      /Downsample16BitImages true
      /FlattenerPreset <<
        /ClipComplexRegions true
        /ConvertStrokesToOutlines true
        /ConvertTextToOutlines true
        /GradientResolution 300
        /LineArtTextResolution 1200
        /PresetName ([High Resolution])
        /PresetSelector /HighResolution
        /RasterVectorBalance 1
      >>
      /FormElements false
      /GenerateStructure false
      /IncludeBookmarks false
      /IncludeHyperlinks false
      /IncludeInteractive false
      /IncludeLayers false
      /IncludeProfiles true
      /MarksOffset 9
      /MarksWeight 0.250000
      /MultimediaHandling /UseObjectSettings
      /Namespace [
        (Adobe)
        (CreativeSuite)
        (3.0)
      ]
      /PDFXOutputIntentProfileSelector /NA
      /PageMarksFile /RomanDefault
      /PreserveEditing true
      /UntaggedCMYKHandling /LeaveUntagged
      /UntaggedRGBHandling /UseDocumentProfile
      /UseDocumentBleed false
    >>
    <<
      /AllowImageBreaks true
      /AllowTableBreaks true
      /ExpandPage false
      /HonorBaseURL true
      /HonorRolloverEffect false
      /IgnoreHTMLPageBreaks false
      /IncludeHeaderFooter false
      /MarginOffset [
        0
        0
        0
        0
      ]
      /MetadataAuthor ()
      /MetadataKeywords ()
      /MetadataSubject ()
      /MetadataTitle ()
      /MetricPageSize [
        0
        0
      ]
      /MetricUnit /inch
      /MobileCompatible 0
      /Namespace [
        (Adobe)
        (GoLive)
        (8.0)
      ]
      /OpenZoomToHTMLFontSize false
      /PageOrientation /Portrait
      /RemoveBackground false
      /ShrinkContent true
      /TreatColorsAs /MainMonitorColors
      /UseEmbeddedProfiles false
      /UseHTMLTitleAsMetadata true
    >>
  ]
>> setdistillerparams
<<
  /HWResolution [2400 2400]
  /PageSize [612.000 792.000]
>> setpagedevice