In an exploding universe of information, users of academic libraries need more resources than any single library can provide. The Illinois Cooperative Collection Management Program (ICCMP) is founded on a commitment to a shared statewide academic collection. The consortium works to meet the diverse information needs of faculty, students, and other library users in Illinois by encouraging cooperative library activity in order to make the best use of its resources.

In order to achieve this vision, the ICCMP is organized around three guiding principles:

• Cooperative Collection Management
• Resource Sharing
• Continuing Professional Education.

These principles are supported by ICCMP activities in five areas:

• Communication
• Resource Development
• Political Advocacy
• Membership Development
• Continuing Review Of Principles And Programs

The principles and activities further assume and encourage certain core values set forth in the Illinois Cooperative Collection Management Program: A Plan for Collaborative Collections Management among Illinois Academic Libraries (an unpublished internal document revised by George Soete in November 1996):

• Universal benefit
• Selective participation and universal input
• Local sufficiency
• Ease of access to shared resources
• Enduring commitment to the goal of shared collection building
• Recognition of the contribution of all member libraries
• Dependence on the commitment and participation of individual librarians.

Since the late 1970s, academic libraries in Illinois have actively cooperated in developing and managing their collections. Driving this cooperative has been a combination of factors, including: a desire to make a broad spectrum of information resources accessible to citizens across the state; increasing inflation in book and journal prices; flat or minimally-increasing library materials budgets; and the pressure to include a wide range of electronic resources in our collections. The ICCMP helps to mitigate these factors by providing a structure for formalized cooperation among academic libraries of all sizes and types.

The Illinois Cooperative Collection Management Program was formed with the primary goal of enriching and strengthening "the collective information resources available to the customers of the consortium libraries and to the citizens of the State of Illinois" (Soete Plan, 1996). This goal of providing and sharing library resources remains at the forefront of our values. Member libraries have come to view resource sharing as a positive value for libraries, librarians, and the students and faculty members who form the learning communities that we serve. By sharing our collections along with our intellectual and financial resources, libraries can provide better services to our users. The process of sharing strategically also has the added benefit of helping libraries to define and refine their own particular missions and strengths.

1. Create a statewide collection that serves the range of needs of our users, from undergraduates to faculty.
2. Foster rapid interlibrary delivery of materials to users at academic libraries.
3. Facilitate the sharing of professional skills and experience of individual librarians.
4. Assist libraries in storing older and/or little used collections.

Collection management is a professional responsibility that is both a craft and an art. This is especially true in academic librarianship, where the methods and techniques of scholarly communication are in flux. The ICCMP provides training to help librarians keep up with these technically demanding and ever-changing responsibilities.

In addition to encouraging communication among its constituent groups (academic library directors and librarians), the ICCMP can play a crucial role in maintaining communication and coordination among members of the various Illinois library consortia and agencies. It is in the best interest of every Illinois library user to streamline the process of acquiring and accessing information resources.

1. Support and participate actively in the statewide effort to create an Illinois library "consortium of consortia" to facilitate the sharing of information and to prevent duplication of effort.
2. Continue to maintain and upgrade the ICCMP website.
3. Continue to host the ILCCM-L listserv and to promote its use.
4. Investigate the feasibility of using web-based technology, as well as other means of communication.

The ICCMP has had the good fortune to have received funding from the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) in the form of Higher Education Cooperation Act (HECA) grants for over a decade. Further growth or expansion of services may necessitate additional funding.

The ICCMP represents the needs of Illinois academic library users by undertaking a political advocacy role. By pursuing partnerships with various library groups and other appropriate entities, both within Illinois and outside the state, the ICCMP can adopt a higher political profile that will help the consortium serve its purpose as a representative for its user communities.

The ICCMP strives to reach out to all academic libraries within Illinois to make them aware of the benefits of membership, including participation in building and having access to the statewide metacollection.

As the academic library environment shifts, the consortium must remain agile, not only in responding positively to change, but also in shaping the course of that change. The ICCMP is committed to a process of continual review and renewal through self-assessment and member participation.

Note: This Statement of Principles was drafted by the Documents Taskforce of the Cooperative Collection Management Committee of the ICCMP. The members of the taskforce were: Mary Munroe, Associate Dean, CATS, Northern Illinois University; Kathy Walsh, Head of Collection Development, National-Louis University; Cecile Jagodzinski, Coordinator of Collection Management, Illinois State University; Joan Fiscella, Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago; and Maria Otero-Boisvert, Consortium Director, ICCMP. This final version includes revisions submitted by members of the coordinating committee.