Academic Consortia Merge in Illinois

By Andrew Albanese -- Library Journal, 07/15/2005

Illinois library officials announced the merger of three academic library consortia into one, known as CARLI (the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois). As of July 1, CARLI will consolidate the operations of the Illinois Cooperative Collection Management Program (nearly 20 years old, with 115 member libraries); the Illinois Digital Academic Library (founded in 1999, with 150 members); and the Illinois Library Computer Systems Organization (nearly 25 years old, with 65 members).

The new consortium of 162 libraries streamlines the need for memberships to multiple consortia and includes every academic library in the state, including community colleges, as well as nonacademic research libraries such as the Illinois State Library and the Chicago Public Library.