An Overview of Resource Sharing Activities in China

This article mainly introduces the development and achievement of resource sharing activities in China. With the modern technologies and complex needs of users, the resource sharing consortia are established to solve the emerging issues related library resource construction and sharing. The goal is to achieve the “5A” theory under the premise of voluntary, equality and mutual benefit. In China, the resource sharing project starts relatively late, however, it develops rapidly. After more than ten years construction, there are some national library consortia founded including CALIS, CASHL, NSTL, and some local universities resource sharing projects like TALIS and JALIS. These consortia strengthen the cohesion of the library field, promote consortia overall image as a whole in society and enhance social influence in the process of resource sharing. And they dedicated to carry out series of resource sharing activities. The main contents of resource sharing includes consortium acquisition, online cataloguing, resource integration, interlibrary loan and document delivery, resource public archiving, statistical evaluation, union training, and so on. These activities are great helpful to elevate the quality and the capability of library service, and provide the opportunities for information services. In the future, new trend will emerge and lots of work should to be explored and designed. Keywords: Resource sharing, Resource sharing consortia, Resource co-construction, information service, China