Hello everyone,
For all the consortium directors and staff in this Core Interest Group, I encourage you to learn more about ICOLC. The International Coalition of Library Consortia is an informal association that is global in scope and free for any consortium to join. It's a useful venue for consortia leaders and staff.
As its website explains, "ICOLC serves consortia staff by providing professional development, information and expertise sharing, and peer benchmarking with like-minded organizations. Membership in the ICOLC community provides value through fostering trusted personal relationships with trusted colleagues. These relationships offer opportunities for problem-solving, mentoring, and counseling. The organization advances common goals through peer-to-peer networking, development of best practices, and by facilitating deeper collaborative action and advocacy amongst members."
ICOLC supporters maintain an active Google Group open to all consortia staff. ICOLC runs two annual in-person meetings, one in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, or Africa) and one in North America (most recently in Anaheim, California, in April 2024). ICOLC also forms task forces to lead initiatives and to advocate on behalf of the library community. For example, ICOLC publishes statements endorsed by member consortia, including the recent AI in Licensing Statement. Finally, ICOLC maintains a global database of participating consortia, who may contact ICOLC to request a login to create or update their profile.
As someone who's active in both the ICOLC and Core communities, I'm happy to answer any questions!
Best wishes,
Michael Rodriguez (he/him)
Chair, Core Consortium Management Interest Group