Cross Sector Collaboration Helps Public Learning across Boundaries--A Case Study of the Wuhan Area Library Consortium, China

A library consortium, or cooperative organization of libraries, is formed in accordance with a contract or agreement reached by all members, usually for the purpose of improving services through resource sharing among its members. The library consortia in China have been greatly developed and emerged various forms of library consortia, including academic, public, special, multi-type library consortia at the regional and national level. This paper will take Wuhan area library consortium as an example to give a glimpse of the development and practice of the library consortia in China.