A New Paradigm for Networked Resource Sharing in the United Arab Emirates Universities

Library and Information Web Access (LIWA) is the first systematic interlibrary cooperative activity among three universities under the umbrella of the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. LIWA was born in 2007 after the shift of the partner libraries to Web-based information services. Interlibrary book lending is the current achievement of Library and Information Web Access with the aim to expand resource sharing and incorporate more e-services soon. This paper aims at gaining some insights into potential success factors for further development of the library consortium in a networked environment. Some key issues, such as metadata standards, acquisitions, licensing, access security, and governance are discussed.