With diminishing finances, it is rarely possible for a library or information center to
have enough resources to fulfill the needs of its clients. What is being delivered is only
a portion of what their clients actually need (Ramos & Mohd Ali, 2005). Collaboration is
widely recognized as the best way for libraries to cope with the ever increasing
challenges: volume of information resources; nature and quality of information; user
needs and expectations; information and communication technology competencies and
infrastructure; inflated cost of information resources; and staffing needs. However,
although these challenges have continued to prevail, libraries working under
collaborative initiatives like the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in
Illinois (CARLI) have registered tremendous success.
This thesis reports the findings of a thorough study to estab