Consortium Member Survey 2004

Building a Foundation for
Moving Forward: Report of Needs Assessment Findings
Council of Federal Libraries Consortium 2004

Lynne C. Howarth, Ph.D.
Deb Wallace, Ph.D.
Ross Gordon MA, MLIS - CFL Consortium Coordinator

[PDF 66 KB]

Overview of Needs Assessment

Opportunities Identified

Recommendations

The Needs Assessment

Consortia Services - Perceived Value and Frequency of Use

Perceived Value of Service Satisfaction with Consortium Delivery

Suggested Change

Value of Consortia Membership - Non-Members

Future Directions

Additional Comments

Opportunities

Recommendations

General Recommendation #1

General Recommendation #2

General Recommendation #3

Conclusion

Challenges include:

Overview of Needs Assessment

With a new CFL Consortium coordinator in place, the Consortium Advisory Committee authorized a research study to identify federal library needs as a foundation for developing a new strategic plan. Both member and non-member libraries were invited to participate in order to provide the strategy-making process with information to expand beyond its current parameters.

The needs assessment objectives included:

• Profile the use of CFL Consortium offerings and assess the value that the Consortia provides its current members
• Identify the needs of Federal Libraries and how a federal-level consortium could meet those needs in order to attract new members
• Gather information that will guide the development of a strategic plan for the CFL Consortia.

Over a two-month period, consultants conducted:

• Four web-based surveys were developed to assess the needs of members and non-members in both official languages.
• Focus groups: Two focus groups were held to deepen the understanding of survey findings, make sense of identified trends, and provide an opportunity for dialogue and collaboration between members and non-members.
• Interviews: Fifteen individual participants were interviewed to validate findings and extend the opportunity to identify new directions for consideration by the strategic plan.

Opportunities Identified

The CFL Consortium has a solid foundation, built on the goodwill of the members and their commitment to contribute to the community of federal libraries. With a grassroots origin that was formalized with a structure supported by membership fees and a National Library mandate, the CFL Consortium plays a significant role in maximizing library resource expenditures and obtaining resources that might otherwise be unaffordable by many libraries within the government system.

From an analysis of the needs assessment data, the following opportunities were identified:

• Continued budget pressures on libraries means that collaboration on procurement to maximize cost benefits, reduce administrative duplication and leverage procurement expertise, and provide access to otherwise unattainable resources form the primary value proposition of membership and the primary goal of the CFL Consortium.
  
  
• Recognizing the rising cost of the procurement process and the need for standardized approaches that address accountability, the current climate in government suggests that a best practice model (as previously recognized by Treasury Board) like the CFL Consortium has the opportunity to be better positioned and leveraged within the federal government system.
  
  
• The transition to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) presents an opportunity to review LAC's role in supporting high-quality service delivery by federal libraries to government and citizens through cost effective procurement and expanded access to information resources - the primary focus of the CFL Consortium.
  
  
• Partially due to the lack of stability in staffing, the membership feels a lack of direction for and connection with the CFL Consortium. With a new coordinator in place, dedicated to the Consortium's success, there is a greater chance of enhancing existing offerings and expanding into new areas of information resource procurement.
  
  
• The consortium model is recognized throughout the library and information industry/vendor communities as a cost-effective way of doing business. By maximizing the consortium buying power, both libraries and vendors reduce the cost of procurement to the benefit of all parties. A consortium, acting on behalf of the federal library system, is welcomed by the vendor community as much as the library community.
  
  
• Federal government libraries, especially through subject-focused and technical expertise collaboration, belong to a variety of consortia (e.g., Council of Fisheries and Oceans Libraries, Council of Forest Service Libraries, Financial Services Librarians' Community of Practice). This collective of expertise can be leveraged by the CFL Consortium to extend its service offering within its limited staffing structure. Likewise, the considerable base of knowledge and experience resident in the regions can be tapped to greater advantage, engaging libraries beyond the NCR more fully in CFL Consortium activities.

Recommendations

Based on the opportunities identified and the priorities offered by the respondents, the consultants outline three general recommendations for consideration in developing the strategic plan. Each recommendation is further supported with specific recommendations that provide the CFL Consortium with tactics for achieving each goal.

1. As a first step, the CFL Consortium must clearly articulate its strategic focus. What does the CFL Consortium do to create value for its members? As with any collaborative, the needs of individual members will vary. Given that the CFL Consortium membership spans a range of library sizes from small to large, and a broad diversity of subject specializations, government affiliations (e.g., ministries, departments, agencies, crown corporations), and locations (e.g., NCR and non-NCR), a clear focus must be identified and communicated to the membership. We see this as an integral first step in the strategic planning process, starting with a mission statement (the purpose of the organization - What do we do today? What is our business?) and followed with a vision statement (the building or growth direction - Where do we want to be tomorrow?). In particular, the vision statement must align to the broader value proposition - that is, to articulate the benefits of membership to the individual library, the federal library system,and the federal government as a whole.

2. The CFL Consortium must strengthen its position within government by securing a sponsor/champion at the appropriate level to obtain sustainable funding and by formalizing a governance framework to operate effectively. How will the CFL Consortium secure the mandate and budget necessary to realize its mission and goals? Currently the CFL Consortium has a somewhat tenuous relationship with LAC; a somewhat blurred relationship with the Council of Federal Libraries - the distinction between the two is not clearly understood by many of the members; an as yet unclear role or relationship with the emerging e-Science Library spearheaded by CISTI; and a marginal association with PWGSC and Treasury Board. As part of the strategic planning process, we recommend that the CFL Consortium analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of its strategic alignment options, chooses a path to pursue, and puts full effort into securing that position in reference to the selected path.

3. The CFL Consortium must implement a structure that operationalizes and sustains its strategic focus. How will the CFL Consortium deliver its products and services to its members? The current approach to choosing products and services appears to be somewhat ad hoc. Respondents felt that there should be more opportunities for input from the membership. In addition, the small number of CFL Consortium staff limits how many programs and services can be realistically sustained. With adequate staffing levels, the coordinator's time and expertise could be committed to higher-level, value-added activities. By establishing an appropriate infrastructure, the CFL Consortium could provide a more comprehensive and integral service to its members (both NCR and non-NCR) and the government as a whole.

Conclusion
In our opinion, the CFL Consortium has an integral role to play in providing quality information services to its members. This message was given "loud and clear" by all participants in the needs assessment. The CFL Consortium has the opportunity to improve its delivery of existing services and expand its membership to both traditional and non-traditional library and information providers and to play a significant role government-wide. However in our opinion, the existing structure has several challenges that could render the CFL Consortium ineffective and possibly obsolete in the near future. Challenges include:

• Sponsorship - the CFL Consortium needs high-level executive sponsorship within government in order to realize its potential and deliver value.
• Role - the CFL Consortium needs to play a key coordinating role, providing leadership and a gateway to the various subject specific groups that exist and are emerging.
• Staffing - the CFL Consortium needs to stabilize the management position and provide appropriate administrative support.
• Funding - the CFL Consortium needs to establish a more sustainable funding model, moving away from membership fees to support its operation.
• Advocacy - the CFL Consortium needs to increase its profile and communicate the leading role it can play in providing strategic information access and delivery across government while maximizing financial and material resources and human expertise. The CFL Consortium model should stand as a best practice example, as was acknowledged previously by Treasury Board.

These insights and opinions are offered by the consultants to the CFL Consortium to consider during its strategic planning efforts.

The Needs Assessment

Identifying business-critical needs of members and nonmembers

The needs assessment objectives included:

• Profile the use of CFL Consortium offerings and assess the value that the Consortia provides its current members
• Identify the needs of Federal Libraries and how a federal-level consortium could meet those needs in order to attract new members
• Gather information that will guide the development of a strategic plan for the CFL Consortia.

Methodology
A needs assessment is a standard research technique that invites participants to reflect on their current challenges, identify priorities, and suggest ways in which their needs can be met. The CFL Consortium needs assessment also included an evaluation of existing Consortium programs in order to assess the value that was currently being provided to members.

Survey Response Rate was fantastic. Over 75% of member institutions responded. Several non-members did as well. Responses were received from all provinces, except PEI and from all sizes of library as well. The most responses, by subject specialization came from the self identified Science Library community 51%, followed by Finance 16%, HR Management 16%, Law 27%, Security, Social Science 28%, Culture 14%, Technology 30%, Humanities 13%, Business 23%, Health 12% and Other 17%.

Respondents identified that they belonged to the other consortia such as COFOL - Council of Fisheries and Oceans Libraries, o IAMSLIC - International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries, CCFSL - Council of Canadian Forest Service Libraries, o FRBCD - Forum des responsables de bibliotheques et centres de documentation Conseil Federal du Quebec, MERLN, OVHLA , NRCLN - Natural Resources Canada Library Network. Some noted that they wished to join the Federal Science Elibrary when it comes into existence.

Consortia Services - Perceived Value and Frequency of Use

Summary (Graphs available in English)
As a summary, the following list shows in rank order (from highest to lowest) the relative value members attribute to the CFL Consortium's product and service offerings:

1. Consortium standing offers and agreements
2. Discount prices on volume purchases
3. Site and simultaneous use licenses
4. Internet site
5. Product and vendor evaluations
6. Discussion list
7. netLibrary
8. Journal subscriptions
9. Consolidated invoicing
10. Interest groups within the Consortium
11. Vendor presentations
12. Links of Interest
13. Consultative meetings
14. Vendor fairs
15. Monthly newsletter

As well, frequency of use is ordered from most to least often used:

1. netLibrary
2. Discussion list
3. Site and simultaneous use licenses
4. Consortium standing offers and agreements
5. Discount prices on volume purchases
6. Internet site
7. Journal subscriptions
8. Links of interest
9. Product and vendor evaluations
10. Vendor presentations
11. Consolidated invoicing
12. Vendor fairs
13. Interest groups within the consortium
14. Monthly newsletter
15. Consultative meetings

The observed differences between perceived value and frequency of use formed the basis for the interview and focus group questions.

Summary
A statistical analysis of the participants' responses produced a rank ordered list of the perceived importance of various services offered by the CFL Consortium as well as a rank ordered list of the respondents' assessment of how satisfactorily the CFL Consortium provides these services. Because of the importance of ensuring that the items that are perceived as valuable match as closely as possible the value that members assign to them, these rankings are presented in a table for consideration in strategic planning.

Perceived Value of Service Satisfaction with Consortium Delivery

1. Obtains best prices Negotiates with vendors
2. Identifies new products and services Advocates on behalf of membership
3. Provides leadership and raised awareness Liaises with vendor community
4. Advocates on behalf of members Identifies new products and services
5. Evaluates vendor products and services Provides leadership and raised awareness
6. Liaises with vendor community Provides networking opportunities
7. Provides networking opportunities Manages acquisition process
8. Provides professional development Provides vendor fairs and presentations
9. Manages acquisition process Provides consolidated invoicing
10. Provides vendor fairs and presentations
11. Facilitates collection development
12. Evaluates vendor products and services;
13. Provides professional development
14. Provides consolidated invoicing Facilitates collection development
15. Offers marketing support Provides templates for service delivery
16. Provides templates for service delivery Offers marketing support

Members were also asked to indicate their level of agreement with ten items concerning the CFL Consortium membership approach and desired future changes. The following A statistical analysis of the level of agreement with the statements in this section resulted in the following list, ranked by relative level of agreement from highest to lowest.

1. I believe a strategic plan is essential.
2. I think the Consortium should partner more aggressively with other consortia.
3. I think the current membership fee is equitable.
4. I feel fully informed about the decisions that the Consortium makes affecting members.
5. I believe the Consortium is sensitive to the needs of all libraries regardless of their size or subject focus.
6. I would like to participate in subcommittees or other activities of the Consortium.
7. I would like to be more involved in the decisions of the Consortium.
8. I think the Consortium membership should be opened up to include a wide variety of members.
9. I regularly attend meetings of the Consortium.
10. I think the Consortium has outlived its usefulness and relevance and should be disbanded.

From this list, the future priorities as suggested by member respondents start with keeping the CFL Consortium, with a strategic plan that focuses on partnering more aggressively with other consortia. It shows good will on the part of the respondents and an interest in becoming more involved in the CFL Consortium activities and decision making.

Respondents were also asked a number of questions concerning CFL Consortium governance and membership. Members were asked to identify the one thing they would change about the CFL Consortium. Answers were grouped into broad categories. The following table outlines the suggested changes and indicates the number of respondents that supported the change:

Suggested Change

1. Products: expand breadth of coverage and negotiate better licenses
2. Improve communication; provide more up to date information
3. Improve relationship and expand services to non-NCR members
4. Expand membership to increase buying power
5. Nothing - doing a good job now
6. Partner with PWGSC to improve procurement process
7. Increase Advocacy and provide innovative leadership
8. Provide more professional development opportunities
9. Provide continuity in staffing

Value of Consortia Membership - Non-Members

Non-members were also asked to evaluate the benefits provided by a consortium and rate their experience with obtaining that value from any consortia to which they belong The same fifteen items were asked as with CFL Consortium members (see section above).

Summary
What can be derived from the responses regarding relative importance of each service to non-member respondents is a ranked list of possible priorities for the CFL Consortium to consider during its strategic planning exercise. The following list provides a clear indication of which products and services are of greatest importance to non-member respondents. Please note: tied ranks are presented together on the same line.

1. Consortium acquires vendor products and services at the best price.
2. Continuously identifies new and innovative products and services.
3. Advocates on behalf of its membership.
4. Facilitates the opportunity for me to network with colleagues; Negotiates with vendors; Provides leadership and shared awareness of library needs.
5. Provide professional development and product services training opportunities.
6. Undertakes vendor product and service evaluations.
7. Manages the acquisition process; Provides consolidated invoicing.
8. Channels information to the vendor community about the needs of federal government libraries.
9. Provides access to vendors through fairs and presentations; Facilitates collaborative collection development.
10. Provides templates to aid my library service delivery.
11. Offers marketing support to its members.

Future Directions

Participants were asked for their opinions and ideas for shaping the CFL Consortium to meet their future needs - important information for establishing a strategic plan. Five questions were posed to give participants the opportunity to indicate where they felt the CFL Consortium should focus its efforts.

1. What do you think will be the greatest challenge your library will face this year? The leading challenge for an overwhelming majority of the respondents is related to budget constraints and securing adequate funding to support library services. Related to this number-one challenge was how to provide comprehensive services in order to meet the growing expectations of library users while justifying the costs related to providing these services. In addition, respondents indicated that they were challenged to integrate technology, provide access to a wider variety of resources, and complete cataloguing collections. Respondents also indicated that within the existing climate of change, their focus would be on integrating services as a result of amalgamation. In summary, respondents indicated:

1. Budget
2. Expanded access to resources and services
3. Meeting expectations
4. Justifying services
5. Consolidating operations and services due to mergers.

2. The most important product or service change the Consortium should undertake immediately is….
Respondents were in less agreement over what product or service change the Consortium should undertake in a short timeframe. However, improving prices through more aggressive negotiation and improving the procurement process through partnership with PWGSC and Treasury Board were indicated by more than one respondent. In addition, respondents suggested:

• Provide a list of holdings by library to increase awareness of what has been purchased
• Provide business cases for purchasing
• Provide professional development opportunities across the membership (NCR and non-NCR members)
• Increase offerings to include electronic news services, "stock" resources such as Dialog and Lexis/Nexis, increased French and bilingual resources, and more science holdings
• Secure a stable future for the CFL Consortium
• Improve marketing of CFL Consortium services and increase membership awareness
• Provide standardized marketing for products offered
• Improve relationships with non-NCR members, by increasing provision of services outside the NCR
• Create a strategic plan to provide direction.

3. The most important product or service the Consortium should introduce within the next two years is…
For the most part, respondents repeated the list of items identified in the question above. However a number of additional product and service suggestions were offered:

• Conference Board of Canada publications
• Electronic journal packages,
• Integrated library systems
• EIU
• Termium
• IEEE
• ILL management software
• List of library consultants
• Soquij
• Common library sources toolkit for the desktop for all public servants.

4. In order to expand membership, the Consortium should structure its membership in the following way…
Regarding expanding membership, respondents suggested that the CFL Consortium include the following libraries or library types:

• Provincial ministry libraries
• All public sector libraries in the NCR. In addition, respondents suggested that the CFL Consortium consider:
• Divide the listserv into interest groups
• Identify all membership markets and consider barriers
• Expand and improve services and libraries will want to join
• Seek mandatory membership for all federal libraries
• Provide a multi-tiered membership model
• Expand outreach to non-traditional librarians
• Support "inkind" services to off set membership fees.

5. The one factor that is essential for long term viability of the Consortium and its members is…
As with the majority of the write-in questions, respondents provide multiple suggestions. Only a few points were offered by more than one respondents. However, multiple responses were suggested in these broad categories:

• Communication - improving how the CFL Consortium communicates its product and service offerings as well as the benefits it provides it members.
• Membership - encouraging members to become more active, attracting new blood, and engaging a broader participation
• Bargaining Power - increase its size and position within government to bring more value across government.
  In addition, individual responses included:
• Create a strategic plan
• Encourage Treasury Board allocation of generic products and services
• Increase awareness
• Provide leadership in product innovation
• Reduce membership fees
• Move focus to desktop content
• Stabilize staffing.

Additional Comments

As a final question, participants were invited to provide additional comments - items not covered by the survey. For the most part, the responses to this question are already represented in the write-in responses above. However, we felt the following points should be included to inform the strategic planning process. In other words, these responses cut to the core of some of the CFL Consortium's challenges:

• A lot of this doesn't apply as we are not in the NCR.
• Being a member of the CFL for several years, I have never attended meetings. I would like to see the agendas and minutes published to members. By providing opportunities to improve skills both at the technical and professional levels would beneficial.
• Factors of productivity and leadership should be addressed.

The comments offered in this section reflect the opinions of the consultants, based on information received through the survey, focus groups, and interviews with a subset of CFL Consortium members and non-members. These observations and recommendations are intended to inform the strategic planning process.

Opportunities

We begin by looking at elements present in the current environment that we feel present significant opportunities for the CFL Consortium.

• Continued budget pressures on libraries means that collaboration on procurement to maximize cost benefits, reduce administrative duplication and leverage procurement expertise, and provide access to otherwise unattainable resources form the primary value proposition of membership and the primary goal of the CFL Consortium.
• Recognizing the rising cost of the procurement process and the need for standardized approaches that address accountability, the current climate in government suggests that a best practice model (as previously recognized by Treasury Board) like the CFL Consortium has the opportunity to be better positioned and leveraged within the federal government system.
• The transition to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) presents an opportunity to review LAC's role in supporting high-quality service delivery by federal libraries to government and citizens through cost effective procurement and expanded access to information resources - the primary focus of the CFL Consortium.
• Partially due to the lack of stability in staffing, the membership feels a lack of direction for and connection with the CFL Consortium. With a new coordinator in place, dedicated to the Consortium's success, there is a greater chance of enhancing existing offerings and expanding into new areas of information resource procurement.
• The consortium model is recognized throughout the library and information industry/vendor communities as a cost-effective way of doing business. By maximizing the consortium buying power, both libraries and vendors reduce the cost of procurement to the benefit of all parties. A consortium, acting on behalf of the federal library system, is welcomed by the vendor community as much as the library community.
• Federal government libraries, especially through subject-focused and technical expertise collaboration, belong to a variety of consortia (e.g., Council of Fisheries and Oceans Libraries, Council of Forest Service Libraries, electronic services librarians, Financial Services Librarians' Community of Practice). This collective of expertise can be leveraged by the CFL Consortium to extend its service offering within its limited staffing structure. Likewise, the considerable base of knowledge and experience resident in the regions can be tapped to greater advantage, engaging libraries beyond the NCR more fully in CFL Consortium activities.

Recommendations

Based on these opportunities, we provide the following recommendations. While each of these points is interrelated and may require attention concurrently with one or more of the others, each represents a distinct and key area of focus.

General Recommendation #1:

As a first step, the CFL Consortium must clearly articulate its strategic focus. What does the CFL Consortium do to create value for its members? As with any collaborative, the needs of individual members will vary. Given that the CFL Consortium membership spans a range of library sizes from small to large, and a broad diversity of subject specializations, government affiliations (e.g., ministries, departments, agencies, crown corporations), and locations (e.g., NCR and non-NCR), a clear focus must be identified and communicated to the membership. We see this as an integral first step in the strategic planning process, starting with a mission statement (the purpose of the organization - what we do today?) and followed with a vision statement (the building or growth direction - where do we want to be tomorrow?). In particular, the vision statement must align to the broader value proposition - that is, to articulate the benefits of membership to the individual library, the federal library system, and the federal government as a whole.

Specific recommendations:

• Because the coordinator's position was vacant for nearly a year, the current coordinator's focus has been to revitalize the role and ensure that the CFL Consortium's business was in order. The first task to review and update the vendor contracts and ensure that memberships are renewed should continue as a primary activity in the short term, but must move to a more strategic role as additional administrative support is secured.
• As part of the strategic planning exercise, the role the CFL Consortium must be clearly stated. In our opinion, the membership would like the focus to be on procurement (e.g., identification, selection, acquisition/negotiation, and distribution/access), maximizing the purchasing power and access to information resources on behalf of the membership then expanding to the broader government as a whole.
• The CFL Consortium should consider obtaining additional high-impact, high-value resources for the membership (e.g., Conference Board of Canada, Gartner, CISTI Source, etc.) In particular, resources that raise the profile and inherent value of the library to its clients, bringing benefits to the membership that extend beyond financial, should be targeted.

General Recommendation #2:

The CFL Consortium must strengthen its position within government by securing a sponsor/champion at the appropriate level to obtain sustainable funding and by formalizing a governance framework to operate effectively. How will the CFL Consortium secure the mandate and budget necessary to realize its mission and goals? Currently the CFL Consortium has a somewhat tenuous relationship with LAC; a somewhat blurred relationship with the Council of Federal Libraries (the distinction between the two is not clearly understood by many of the members); an as yet unclear role or relationship with the emerging e-Science Library spearheaded by CISTI; and a marginal association with PWGSC and Treasury Board. As part of the strategic planning process, we recommend that the CFL Consortium should: analyze the strengths and weaknesses of its strategic alignment options, choose a path to pursue, and put full effort into securing that position in reference to the selected path.

Specific recommendations:

• Through the strategic planning exercise, determine the most appropriate organizational body within which to situate the CFL Consortium. Formalize that affiliation or alignment. Options would include, but are not limited to, LAC, CISTI, PWGSC, or Treasury Board.
• Respondents indicated no appetite for a dramatic change in the direction or activities of the CFL Consortium. Rather, they agreed that changes could evolve over time. The sequence might proceed as follows:
  • Begin with solidifying the current Consortium membership-only focus. Get your house in order, get clear on who you are and what you do well. Focus on delivering excellent products and services to members.
  • Next step - Expand services to existing members. Meet more of their resource needs, particularly by offering high impact, high value resources that they have identified as priorities.
  • Next step - Expand membership beyond libraries to non-traditional information/knowledge centres - supporting the information needs of knowledge workers across government.
  • Finally, move away from a membership model to service all federal government libraries/information agencies and individual end-users, through an infrastructure funded by the sponsoring body.
• Review the current business model (i.e., operating budget obtained from membership fees). Possibilities to consider include:
  • Moving away from the membership dues revenue model.
  • Committing percentage of gained savings to administration (e.g., OCLC gives a 40% discount; CFL Consortium passes on 30% and retains remainder for operating costs).
  • Charging non-member purchases at higher rate than for members, but still lower than "off the street" pricing.
  • Cost sharing with sponsoring bodies (e.g., LAC, CISTI, CFL).
  • Exploring with CFL joint opportunities for fee-based professional development (e.g., web-based delivery of training; hosting continuing education courses from colleges/universities or professional associations).
  • Partnering with other consortia (e.g., Fedlink, Canada-Wide Site License).
  • Piggy backing on other library related functions and the resources available there - CFL Seminar; CLA National Conference; Provincial and Special Library Conferences as well as other information or knowledge management initiatives.
  • Securing total funding support from federal government (Treasury Board submission) based on the ROI - cost recovery, cost containment, cost avoidance, economy of scale, duplication of effort/redundancy - making the case for better management of government resource costs.

General recommendation #3:

The CFL Consortium must implement a structure that operationalizes and sustains its strategic focus. How will the CFL Consortium deliver its products and services to its members?

The current approach to choosing products and services appears to be somewhat ad hoc. Respondents felt that there should be more opportunities for input from the membership. In addition, the small number of CFL Consortium staff limits how many programs and services can be realistically sustained. With adequate staffing levels, the coordinator's time and expertise could be committed to higher-level, value-added activities. By establishing an appropriate infrastructure, the CFL Consortium could provide a more comprehensive and integral service to its members and the government as a whole. Specific recommendation:

• Explore the possibility of using expertise within subject area clusters to assist in the selection and acquisition of resources.
• Explore the possibility of obtaining "in kind" services from member libraries to assist with projects (e.g., web-expertise, legal or financial experience, administrative or clerical support, translation).
• Explore ways for better engaging the expertise of CFL Consortium members outside the NCR.
• Explore options for extending membership to non-traditional libraries that have a mandate for procuring resources (e.g., information management groups, knowledge centres, data repositories).
• Explore possibilities for actively partnering with other library consortia or networks beyond the public service sector (e.g., US-based consortia such as FedLink or BCR, corporate libraries and the Special Libraries Association, ICOLC).

Conclusion

In our opinion, the CFL Consortium has an integral role to play in providing quality information services to its members. This message was given "loud and clear" by all participants in the needs assessment. The CFL Consortium has the opportunity to improve its delivery of existing services and expand its membership to both traditional and non-traditional library/information providers and to play a significant role government-wide. Most importantly, the Consortium can act on behalf of the members to bring in cross Canada site licencing for products and services so that libraries can act as the horizontal network that the Government of Canada needs to disseminate information to all of its employees. By negotiating with vendors for large scale licences, the Consortium builds upon its already excellent record of cost saving relationships, and can significantly reduce the redundancies in information purchases across the government. The infrastructure is in place, the expertise in in every department and agency in the form of libraries, KM and research centers, the Consortium can play a key role in helping to leverage this structure into a the key information provider for all employees.

However, it is our opinion that the existing structure has several challenges that could render the CFL Consortium ineffective and possibly obsolete in the near future.

Challenges include:

• Sponsorship - the CFL Consortium needs high-level executive sponsorship within government in order to realize its potential and deliver value.
• Role - the CFL Consortium needs to play a key coordinating role, providing leadership and a gateway to the various subject specific groups that exist and are emerging.
• Staffing - the CFL Consortium needs to stabilize the management position and provide appropriate administrative support.
• Funding - the CFL Consortium needs to establish a more sustainable funding model, moving away from membership fees to support its operation.
• Advocacy - the CFL Consortium needs to increase its profile and communicate the leading role it can play in providing strategic information access and delivery across government while maximizing financial and material resources and human expertise. The CFL Consortium model should stand as a best practice example, as was earlier acknowledge by Treasury Board.