by Arlene Cohen, Associate Professor Circulation and Outreach Services Librarian

1. by Arlene Cohen, Associate Professor Circulation and Outreach Services Librarian Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Library, University of Guam The Role of theUniversity of Guam RFK Library in the Growth of Pacific Island Resource Sharing: Challenges and Lessons Learned

2. Introduction • The Pacific Islands • Early Developments • Tools • Relationships • Successes • Challenges • Lessons Learned

3. The Pacific Islands Secretariat of the Pacific Community describes – 3 sub-regions Melanesia to west Polynesia to southeast Micronesia to north 22 island countries and territories Total population estimated at 7.6 million in 2000 Current growth rate 2.2% - 9 million by 2010 Of 7,500 islands, only 500 inhabited

4. Map courtesy of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community

5. Early Developments • Little resource sharing until the early 1990’s • Major developments in 1991 PIALA was established University of Guam RFK Library automated OCEAN, an online public access catalog installed RFK Library joined OCLC as a full member RFK Library began using DOCLINE

6. Early Developments • More Developments 1998 - RFK Library expanded definition of region to include Pacific Islands under the SPC umbrella 2001 - First Pacific Community / IFLA UAP Pacific Region Workshop at SPC <http://www.spc.int/Library/> 36 participants (both virtual and physically present) representing 11 Pacific Island nations and territories, plus Australia and New Zealand Resolutions supporting Updating essential tools, better networks and training

7. Tools • To begin resource sharing, we must know What libraries are out there ? What they have to share ? How do they deliver ? • Tools to address these questions Library Directories Union Lists of Serials Delivery networks

8. Tools - Library Directories • 1970 – First listing of Pacific Islands libraries in 4th ed. of the Hawaiian directory of libraries • 1990 – 8th edition of Hawaii directory Under heading Pacific Islands - 20 libraries Almost 1/2 in Australia or U.S. military bases in Asia • 1993 – Directory of Libraries, Archives and Museums in Micronesia One of the first PIALA projects

9. Tools - Library Directories • 1997 - Directory of Libraries and Archives in the Pacific Islands First comprehensive Pacific Islands directory ALIA Asia & Pacific SIG sponsored 1993 updated Micronesian listings included • 2003 – Libraries of Asia and the Pacific Directory First Pacific Islands online directory Hosted on Nat. Lib. of Australia server Libraries can do updating online

10. Tools - Library Directories

11. Tools - Union Lists of Serials • 1971 – Union List of Serials in Libraries of Guam First union list covering few Guam libraries • 1987 – Union List of Serials in Libraries of Guam, 1986-1987 Holdings of 17 Guam libraries • 1997 – Union List of Serials in Libraries in Guam and Micronesia Expanded to include Micronesian libraries

12. Tools - Union Lists of Serials • 2002 – Union List of Serials in Pacific Islands Libraries Expanded to include Fiji and New Caledonia University of the South Pacific Library Secretariat of the Pacific Community Library 60 requests for copies from non-contributing libraries 20 libraries paid US $18.00

13. Tools - Delivery Networks • Before 1998 - Only surface (or ship) mail and fax Very slow Very costly • 1998 - Growing use ofelectronic mail and Internet in the Pacific Islands RFK Library acquired ARIEL, a scanner and recycled an old 386 computer

14. Tools – Delivery Networks • 2000 - College of Micronesia - FSM grants funded ARIEL, computers and scanners on all FSM campuses and public libraries Train librarians in basic library services, philosophy and resource sharing tools ARIEL also installed in Palau Community College and Northern Marianas College

15. Relationships Low Cost or Cost Free Resource Sharing • OCLC LVIS • DOCLINE FREESHARE • Univ. of Hawaii Hamilton Library agreement • PREL EBSCO access to full text • World Health Branch Library in Manila

16. Relationships • OCLC LIVS (Libraries Very Interested in Sharing) 1998 – Joined this group of libraries using OCLC willing to share resources at no cost • National Library of Medicine FREESHARE 2000 – RFK Library founding member Libraries using DOCLINE willing to provide “back to basics” cost free resource sharing

17. Relationships • University of Hawaii (UH) at Manoa 1999 – Signed agreement with UH Hamilton Library to reciprocally charge US $ 3. 00 • PREL (Pacific Resources for Education and Learning) EBSCO access to free full text 2003 – PREL provided universal access to EBSCO databases throughout the US affiliated Pacific Islands nations and territories • World Health Organization Library in Manila

18. Successes

19. Successes

20. Successes

21. Successes • Cost Free resource sharing relationships developed during the past 5 years Sent 1,688 cost-free documents outside the region Received 5,015 cost-free documents for University of Guam and regional users RFK Library’s unique contribution to regional resource sharing

22. Successes In describing the growth of interlibrary loan, in her 2001 UAP report, Jean Thoulag, the Director of the College of Micronesia Learning Resource Center wrote: AUntil about 1999, requests for materials through interlibrary loan were rare … this past year has seen an increase ... of interlibrary loan or documents from a handful per year to about dozen per month.” And this regional growth - although uneven - is continuing.

23. Challenges • Librarians in region have little or no training Little awareness of applying new technologies No thinking beyond the walls of their collection • Training done at PIALA not enough • Depository laws in place, but not implemented

24. Challenges • Union lists lack holdings of Pacific collections • No access to most book collections Lack of cataloging No online catalogs • ARIEL systems in place, but many not yet used for interlibrary loan

25. Lessons Learned • Key to resource sharing is training focused on Role librarians play in creating an information literate society Awareness of the value of information Philosophy of resource sharing Cataloging and collection management skills • Librarians must be proactive in implementing depository laws

26. Lessons Learned • RFK Library’s wealth is the ability to provide low-cost or cost-free resources – “If I were ‘ILL Queen,’ I would ask that everyone join FREESHARE!” • At the end, sharing freely benefits all We ask, we fill and the sharing trickles up and down!