FDI partners in Co-East - first English Public library clump

The Co-East Project: Connectivity and Co-operation in the East of England.

The Co-East project, funded by the DCMS/Wolfson Public Libraries Challenge Fund 1999/2000, is a partnership of six library authorities (Cambridgeshire, Essex, Peterborough, Southend, Suffolk and Thurrock), three library system suppliers (Ameritech, DS Ltd and Geac), two content suppliers (Chadwyck-Healey and EBSCO) and an independent technical broker (Fretwell Downing Informatics.

The project, described by the Arts Minister, Alan Howarth as "a visionary and innovative consortium project with the potential to make a significant contribution to the Public Library IT Network.", will test and operate connectivity between the three main public library operating systems, using Z39.50 and other standard protocols, creating the first English public library clump. It aims to bring together all the library resources of the six authorities into a single virtual private network, accessible via web based OPACs and the world wide web to all library users in the region. The existing resources, which include library catalogues, citizens' information and specialised files will be enhanced to make available massive new content databases embracing homework support, over 2700 electronic journals and open learning programmes along with expanded citizens' information.

Central to the project's vision is the concept that library users across the East of England region, using some of the smallest libraries in the country, will be able to access resources that would be envied by some of the largest, as envisaged in New Library: the People's Network. Furthermore they will be able to gain access to many of these resources remotely from their community centre, work place, home or school.

Co-East is an imaginative and modernising project that will support the government's vision of a learning society through the development of the delivery of library services at a regional level. It is a pathfinder project which explores new principles for resource sharing and service development with the new infrastructures needed for resource discovery. The regional implications of this project are significant and will be further developed by the East of England Library and Information Services Development Agency (ELISA), a cross-sectoral organisation soon to be constituted to represent the sector within the region.

In Co-East, the opportunities afforded by public library authorities working together in equal partnership with the private sector will offer models to support the culture of partnership working. Indeed, the benefits of this partnership approach can already been seen in the special skills the private sector have brought to the project in developing a logo and furthering the policy for marketing and publicity.

During the course of the project alternative methods of accessing and providing services will be investigated. These include the facility to access the consortium's stock remotely; the provision of stock straight to the requester's door; customised services to specific client groups (e.g. rural communities and housebound users); and the evaluation of the use of electronic reference sources in place of traditional book stock, especially within community libraries.

Throughout the project, the focus for staff training will be on equipping staff with the skills to operate and deliver these new modernised services and providing them with a platform from which to develop the skills and confidence to champion the vision of New Library for the next millennium.

More information from Co-East website or from Liz Brain, Regional Project Manager, Co-East Project. Email Liz at liz.brain@libher.suffolkcc.gov.uk