Resource sharing digital libraries: a case study of Taiwan's InfoSpring Digital Library Project

The InfoSpring Digital Library Project conducted by National Chiao Tung Uni versity (NCTU) is a project to establish mirror sites in Taiwan for well-kn own reference databases and full-text electronic journals. The role of NCTU in this project is to provide the hardware (including servers and storage space) and network infrastructure, system maintenance and data update. By m eans of resource sharing, universities and industries in Taiwan can access the databases loaded in the InfoSpring Digital Library under certain subscr iption agreements. Realizing the importance of resource sharing, libraries in Taiwan have organized a consortium to decide which databases to be hoste d in Taiwan and negotiate competitive prices with information providers. Th is paper presents the motivation, current status, experiences, and future d irections of the InfoSpring Project and introduces the Taiwanese library co nsortium which it services. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reser ved.