Faculty Reciprocal Borrowing
WesternU faculty can visit and borrow from college and university libraries that participate in the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium (SCELC) Faculty Reciprocal Borrowing program. The agreement includes reciprocal (no fee) faculty borrowing privileges.
For more information about each library’s policies, contact the institution to learn more about when applications for cards are accepted and guidelines for using their facility and borrowing.
On this page:
How to Join
What is a Library Consortium?
A library consortium is a group of libraries that collaborate to achieve common goals, often related to improving access to resources, sharing information, and reducing costs. These consortia can include academic, public, special, and school libraries. By pooling their resources and negotiating collectively, libraries within a consortium can offer their users a wider range of materials, databases, and services than they could individually. Common activities of library consortia include:
- Resource Sharing: Facilitating the borrowing and lending of materials among member libraries.
- Collective Purchasing: Negotiating group discounts on electronic resources, software, and other library materials.
- Advocacy: Representing the interests of member libraries to government bodies, publishers, and other stakeholders.
Besides SCELC, other examples of library consortia include OCLC (Online Computer Library Center), the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI), and the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA).
Faculty Benefits
Through consortia, faculty gain access to a broader range of books, journals, databases, and other materials that may not be available within their home institution’s library. This expanded access supports their research, teaching, and scholarship.