An evaluation of inter library collaboration among individual libraries of vietnam national university ho chi minh city m a 60 32 20

A mixed-methods approach was used in this research, employing a survey and interviews to determine the inter-library collaboration level among member libraries of the VNU-HCM library sys

AN EVALUATION OF INTER-LIBRARY COLLABORATION AMONG INDIVIDUAL LIBRARIES OF VIETNAM NATIONAL

UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY

Submitted in part fulfilment of the degree of

LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

MA in Information Management

AN EVALUATION OF INTER-LIBRARY COLLABORATION

AMONG INDIVIDUAL LIBRARIES

OF VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY

Student ID: 11039865

Module Code: CMPP44N

Submission Date: 31 st August 2012

Abstract

This dissertation examines the inter-library collaboration among academic libraries, looking specifically at the inter-library collaboration among member libraries of the VNU-HCM library system A review of the literature revealed numerous studies on the term “inter-library collaboration”, factors affecting inter-library collaboration, as well as benefits and challenges of inter-library collaboration to libraries and the user However, there is lack of studies which evaluate the inter-library collaboration among academic libraries generally Previous researches concentrate primarily on single issues of inter-library collaboration such as inter-library loan, union catalogue, human resource sharing, etc

A mixed-methods approach was used in this research, employing a survey and interviews to determine the inter-library collaboration level among member libraries of the VNU-HCM library system A set of categories was established prior to data collection including the number of member libraries taking part in inter-library collaboration activities of the VNU-HCM library system, inter-library collaboration level, inter-libraries collaboration activities, inter-library collaboration strategy, factors affect inter-library collaboration, and obstacles of inter-library collaboration

The significant findings of the research identified that most of the libraries of HCM took part in the inter-library collaboration activities and they did so enthusiastically However, the libraries which participated in the inter-library collaboration activities of VNU-HCM as well as the libraries which had not taken part

VNU-in the VNU-inter-library collaboration activities of this library system faced many challenges Specifically, human resources and communication among libraries were considered the two main barriers which significantly affected cooperation efforts of member libraries of the VNU-HCM library system Finally, based on the present condition of the inter-library collaboration among member libraries of the VNU-HCM library system, the current obstacles of the inter-library collaboration among these libraries, and the suggestions of the interviewees, the researcher provided several recommendations for the future collaboration of the VNU-HCM library system

List of contents

Abstract 2

List of figures 5

Acknowledgement 6

List of abbreviations 7

Chapter 1: Introduction 9

1.1 Background information 9

1.2 The VNU-HCM library system 10

1.3 Research significance and objectives 10

1.4 Research methodology 11

1.5 Structure of the dissertation 12

Chapter 2: Literature review 13

2.1 The term “Inter-library collaboration” 13

2.2 Factors affect inter-library collaboration 15

2.3 Benefits and challenges of inter-library collaboration 17

2.3.1 Benefits to libraries 17

2.3.2 Benefits to users 18

2.3.3 Challenges to libraries 19

Chapter 3: Methodology 22

3.1 Research design 22

3.2 Research methodologies 23

3.2.1 Survey 23

3.2.2 Interview 25

3.3 Sampling 26

3.4 Data analysis 27

3.5 Ethical considerations 28

3.6 Limitations of the study 29

Chapter 4: Findings and discussion 31

4.1 The number of member libraries taking part in inter-library collaboration activities of VNU-HCM 31

4.2 Inter-library collaboration level 33

4.3 Inter-library collaboration activities 35

4.4 Inter-library collaboration strategy 37

4.5 Factors affect inter-library collaboration 39

4.6 Obstacles of inter-library collaboration 41

Chapter 5: Conclusion and recommendations 44

5.1 Summary of findings 44

5.2 Future areas of research 46

References 49

Bibliography 55

Appendix A – Dissertation plan 57

Appendix B – Chart of survey participants in comparison with the number of library staff 62

Appendix C – Survey 63

Appendix D – Interview questions 68

Appendix E – Consent form for the interviewees 69

Figure 3: inter-library collaboration activities9999999999999 Page 36

Figure 4: factors affect inter-library collaboration999999999999Page 39

Figure 5: obstacles of inter-library collaboration999999999999.Page 42

Acknowledgement

I have taken efforts in this dissertation However, it would not have been possible without the support of many individuals I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them

First of all, I would like to express my special gratitude towards my supervisor – Dr Susie Andretta, who has guided me step by step through the dissertation and given

me precious suggestions Furthermore, I give many thanks to my honoured lecturers

at the Department of Information Management who have offered me invaluable guidance and support Thanks to the London Metropolitan University for awarding me such an opportunity to discover my niche in Information Management and fulfil this special thesis

And finally, my thanks and appreciations also go to my parents and close friends who have endured this long process with me, always at a position to offer me kind support and love

List of abbreviations

VNU-HCM: Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City

Resources

UITLib: Library of University of Information Technology

USSHLib: Library of University of Social Sciences and

Humanities

VNU-HCM High school Lib: Library of High School for the Gifted

This research is the work of Thi Huyen Ngo and has been completed solely in fulfilment of the dissertation for the MA in Information Management at the London Metropolitan University

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background information

This study focused on inter-library collaboration which according to Reitz (2010) means working together for the mutual benefits of the user among libraries and library systems Mark (2007) claims that inter-library collaboration helps libraries to address common issues much more effectively than undertaking individually by sharing expertise, building partnerships and alliances It can be seen that inter-library collaboration makes a significant contribution for participating libraries in their effort to expand their services to offer resources beyond their limited collections and serve the users more effectively This type of collaboration is particularly important when libraries face many challenges such as financial crisis and the cuts to library collections (Pollard and Tucker, 2011) Whereas the traditional forms of inter-library collaboration such as inter-library loan and shared cataloguing, there are still left with many new forms of collaboration such as “forming consortia for group purchases of electronic resources for better pricing, establishing collection development priorities among groups of related libraries to ensure that one library in the group maintains the archive in a particular subject area, saving valuable space in our facilities by reducing duplication, providing staff resources to process and provide access to the information the materials contain, and forming live Web reference consortia” (Burich,

et al., 2006, p 18)

Despite the benefits inter-library collaboration brings to cooperating libraries, Vietnamese libraries seem not to pay attention to this issue All collaboration among libraries is based on isolated initiatives of personal relations among libraries rather than on systematic collaboration For this reason this research aimed to raise awareness about inter-library collaboration among individual libraries of VNU-HCM The study also aimed to prove that in order to serve effectively all the users of VNU-HCM such as lecturers, officials, researchers and students, the collaboration among individual libraries of VNU-HCM becomes an indispensable requirement At present, the inter-library collaboration activities among member libraries of VNU-HCM are controlled by the VNU-HCM library system steering committee and Library Council of VNU-HCM

1.2 The VNU-HCM library system

The library system of VNU-HCM consists of 9 individual libraries including VNULib, UELLib, IULib, UITLib, IERLib, VNU-HCM High school Lib, USSHLib, UTLib, and USLib VNULib, UELLib, IULib, UITLib, IERLib, and VNU-HCM High school Lib have only 1 library while UTLib, USSHLib, and USLib have 2 branch libraries

At present, VNU-HCM is attempting to build up a library system which has the following characteristics

• General serving: readers can use any library in the VNU-HCM library system

• Common source: member libraries are allowed to use bibliography data, text data, etc of each other

full-• United software system: library management software, cooperative cataloguing, etc

• Synchronous development strategy: member libraries’ development bases on the library system’s general development strategy

The cooperation among member libraries of VNU-HCM started officially in 2008 when the director of VNU-HCM promulgated two decisions which related to building a united library system for VNU-HCM The two decisions included “establishing the VNU-HCM library system steering committee” and “establishing the Library Council

of VNU-HCM” Specifically, the VNU-HCM library system steering committee consisted of the vice-director of VNU-HCM, the director of VNULib, and the presidents of member universities The Library Council of VNU-HCM consisted of the managers of member libraries In 2009, the decision which related to promulgating regulations for organising and operating of the VNU-HCM library system was enforced by the director of VNU-HCM Although member libraries created some cooperative activities before 2008, enforcing these decisions concretised the collaboration among individual libraries of VNU-HCM by official agreement among member libraries

1.3 Research significance and objectives

The issue of inter-library collaboration has generated great interest among libraries and information researchers as well as information centres and library managers However, there is little research about this issue generally In addition, most of the studies are for libraries in developed countries There is very little understanding and lack of evidence about the determinants of the inter-library collaboration in

developing countries, especially in Asia region This problem is compound by the fact that library activities in general and inter-library collaboration in particular in the less developed country are not the same with developed countries Accordingly the factors affecting inter-library collaboration as well as benefits and challenges regarding to inter-library collaboration are likely to be different

In addition, as we will see in the literature review chapter, there do not have studies that have dealt with the inter-library collaboration in Vietnam In fact, there are only a limited number of studies that focus on single issues of the inter-library collaboration

in Vietnam such as material sharing and training and they were published in Vietnamese

This research aims to contribute to the literature by evaluating the inter-library collaboration among individual libraries of VNU-HCM It also attempts to provide insight into some of the fundamental aspects of cooperative structure in the academic library network of VNU-HCM in order to present specific recommendations

to ensure a successful implementation of inter-library cooperation in the VNU-HCM library system

A set of research objectives was established and formed the foundation of this study

chairman and deputy chairman of the Library Council of VNU-HCM were selected to take part in the interviews, and the entire library staff in the nine libraries of VNU-HCM were invited to participate in the survey

1.5 Structure of the dissertation

The dissertation is organised as follows

Chapter 1 provides background information on the context of the research and introduces the VNU-HCM libraries This section also indicates the significance of this study, lists the research objectives, and provides an account of the methodologies and sampling used in this study

Chapter 2 presents an overview of the literature and discusses the terminology and issues related to inter-library collaboration, factors affect inter-library collaboration, and benefits as well as challenges of inter-library collaboration

Chapter 3 describes the methodology used in this study, including the research design, research methodologies, data sampling, data analysis procedure, ethical considerations and limitations

Chapter 4 analyses the findings obtained from the survey with the library staff and interviews with the chairman and deputy chairman of the Library Council of VNU-HCM

Chapter 5 summarises the results generated by this study, provides recommendations for the future inter-library collaboration of the VNU-HCM library system, and offers a number of suggestions on future studies

Chapter 2: Literature review

This chapter is devoted to reviewing the existing and relevant literature on the topic

of inter-library collaboration between academic libraries It starts with a discussion of the term “inter-library collaboration” or “inter-library cooperation” and then goes through the factors which affect inter-library collaboration between research libraries Finally this chapter provides a discussion on the benefits and challenges of collaboration to libraries and the user

2.1 The term “Inter-library collaboration”

Inter-library collaboration is not a new phenomenon, but there is little research about this issue generally as Bottorff et al (2008, p 332) assert that “collaboration is rarely mentioned in the branch literature, but it is essential to successful organizations” In fact, no one can deny the importance of collaboration among organisations in general and libraries in particular In studies, researchers often focus on aspects or single issues of collaboration such as the establishment of documentation and information networks (Sulistyo-Basuki, 2002); interlibrary loan (Aminpour, 2004; Tsimpoglou, 2004; Wicht, 2011); union catalogue (Ranaweera, 2008); collaboration between Reference and Interlibrary departments (Kern and Weible, 2005); collaboration among staff (Alire, 2009 cited in Sugnet, 2009; Bottorff et al., 2008); cross-institutional collaboration for information literacy in academic libraries (Hope and Peterson, 2002); using strategic planning or project management techniques to build cooperation between academic libraries and computing centres (Creth, 1994; Favini, 1997); and planning for inter-institutional collaboration for electronic collection

development (Simpson, 1997)

Generally, collaboration is defined as working “closely with one or more associates in producing a work to which all who participate make the same kind of contribution (shared responsibility) or different contributions (mixed responsibility)” (Reitz, 2004,

p 154-155) At the same time, when researchers discuss “inter-library collaboration”, they often mention the term “library consortium” to show “a group of libraries that agree to pull their resources of all the other institutions, either through interlibrary loan or borrowing privileges” (Ghosh, 2002, p 594) In a library consortium, individual libraries share resources such as human resources and information resources with each other Therefore, a library consortium can be considered a starting point and also a sound basis for the collaboration among libraries Thus, on the whole, Holt,

Holt and Lloyd (2007) and Alire (2009 cited in Sugnet, 2009) also indicate that the inter-library collaboration occurs commonly when libraries are aware of the need to cooperate in order to achieve a common goal

The term “inter-library collaboration” or “inter-library cooperation” can be defined as follows According to Shreeves (1997), the concept of “inter-library cooperation” is attached to the term “resource sharing” which is based largely on three functions, namely, bibliographic access, inter-library lending services, and cooperative collection development The purpose of cooperation here indicates the need of participating libraries such as knowing what is available for sharing from other libraries through union catalogs, bibliographic listings, opacs, indexes and other bibliographic utilities; availing of expedited inter-library loans and document delivery services; and building complementary collections of materials on which to draw Keenan and Johnston’s book Concise Dictionary of Library and Information Science (2000, p 140) describes the meaning of the term “inter-library cooperation” as

“collaborative agreements between libraries for mutual benefits Such agreements often enable member libraries to share resources such as network access, cataloguing records, storage etc” Verzonsa (2004a, p 1) stresses that “library cooperation refers to a reciprocally beneficial sharing of resources developed or pre-existing by two or more libraries, or, it may be an umbrella term for a wide spectrum

of cooperation processes and mechanisms for libraries” Similarly, Prytherch (2005,

p 170-171) asserts that inter-library cooperation is “collaborative arrangements made between libraries to fulfil a number of functions, such as: inter-library lending, co-ordinated collection management, shared storage, co-operative cataloguing, automation facilities, network access, user access, staff training, lobbying etc” Following on from Keenan, Johnston and Prytherch’s thinking, Reitz (2010) also believes that library cooperation is “methods by which libraries and library systems work together for the mutual benefit of their users, including centralized processing, cooperative cataloguing, international exchange of bibliographic information, union catalogs , resource sharing, etc” Simply defined, inter-library collaboration is a term used for cooperative activities between and among two or more libraries like a common catalogue, inter-library loan provisions, full-text provisions, and community activities

Apt Partnership (1995 cited in Verzosa, 2004a, p 1) argues that library cooperation

is considered as “the creation and operation of equitable, that is mutually ‘fair’, collaborative arrangements between libraries and information providers which

enhance the common good through making information available to all potential users (without obstacle to access by reason of cost) which is more extensive or more valuable to the user and/or of lower cost to the collaborating providers”

Analysing the meaning of the term “inter-library collaboration” or “inter-library cooperation” helps to identify areas of cooperation between academic libraries First, libraries can borrow and lend materials of each other Cooperating institutions can provide direct borrowing on-site for faculty and students because member libraries have a direct link to the online catalogues of libraries of other institutions Patrons can easily identify the location of desired books or journals by using common catalogue; and they also can request an inter-library loan or go to the owing library Second, inter-library collaboration focuses on sharing ideas and information among member libraries as well as providing training course for staff and library users The third, e-resource sharing becomes more popular because of the development of the Internet Libraries can offer their own materials to the public domain in the context of free or low-cost The user not only accesses bibliographic information, but also full text

2.2 Factors affect inter-library collaboration

Inter-library collaboration is affected by various factors According to Holt, Holt and Lloyd (2007), there are many factors which have encouraged the formation of collaboration between libraries such as changes in government program requirements, shifting funding mandates from government agencies and private sector authorities, networked computing, tight budgets, customer desire for improved

or new services, and library desire to provide for more or different types of users

It can be said that technology affects significantly inter-library collaboration activities Sulistyo-Basuki (2002) indicates that libraries have a tendency towards working together to build up databases and covering their holdings in response to technological developments This point is confirmed by Verzora (2004b, p 4) who claims that “the increasing use of Internet and electronic resources, digital archives are now an emerging platform for cooperation”

Furthermore, when mentioning barriers to collaboration among libraries, Verzora (2004a, p 6) thinks that sustained funding should be considered as a factor which can make or break cooperative endeavours Commitment and communication among participating libraries are also considered as one of the important factors which

influence cooperative efforts as Verzosa (2004c, p 4) indicates “it is essential for a successful experience in cooperation that participating members feel that they are getting a proper level of benefit” Alire (2009 cited in Sugnet, 2009) stresses that effective teamwork among libraries is needed because collaboration starts with trying

to solve a problem At the same time, Alire (2009 cited in Sugnet, 2009) also indicates that the reason for unsuccessful collaboration is lack of communication among deans and directors One example of this is given by the collaborative initiative between five academic libraries in New Mexico that had research collections namely New Mexico Research Library Alliance, University of New Mexico, the UNM Law and Health Sciences Libraries, New Mexico State University and New Mexico Tech They did not work well together because deans and directors did not have a common understanding of what teamwork entailed As a result, the library group fails

to find common ground

In addition, library staff’s attitude to inter-library collaboration is quite important to its success The relationship among staff affect directly collaborative activities, therefore Doyle and Tucker (2011, p 216) stresses that “communication is always an issue”

Furthermore, human resource is another indispensable factor in achieving an effective cooperation as Shepherd (1998, p 2) indicates that “a substantial investment in human resource is required” to have a successful collaboration This means libraries should support staff training in human relations, life skills, technical abilities and computer skills At the same time, Shepherd (1998) mentions building relationships, learning, leaderships, and community building as areas of influence in creating a human climate for effective inter-institutional collaboration Shepherd (1998) explains these points further First, quality human relationships are considered the most important characteristic of successful collaboration, therefore library leaders must recognise the need for certain life skills which must be identified, developed, and sustained among the staff of the collaborating organisations At the same time, partnerships must be established by creating events, projects or teams to bring staff together and get to know each other Second, staff should enhance their knowledge through learning because this will help organisations respond to challenges Furthermore, taking part in workshops allows library staff in collaborating organisations to share experiences and review the most difficult issues of all collaborative areas Thirdly, with regard to leadership, team building is difficult in a collaborative environment; however, librarians are committed to leadership and resist the temptation to control Therefore, learning management skills become more

important in collaborative environment Finally, for community building, it has been about committee structure, supervisors’ responsibilities and term of reference Establishing new methods, approaches, actions, and interactions help organisations effectively working together

Alire (2009 cited in Sugnet, 2009) gives some examples of successful inter-library collaboration Those are the Colorado Alliance, Ohiolink, the California Digital Library, the FastFlood cooperative project at Colorado State University Libraries, and ARL’s diversity collaboration called the Library Career Development Program (LCDP) They are the best models of library collaboration because they have an effective communication, mutual respect for each other and for each other’s ideas, consensus and willing to work as a team toward common goals

2.3 Benefits and challenges of inter-library collaboration

2.3.1 Benefits to libraries

Inter-library collaboration brings participating libraries many benefits, new possibilities

as well as creates an opportunity not available to libraries working alone as Echavarria (2002) and Rigda (2010) indicate that collaboration encourages mutual support and idea sharing among libraries Mark (2007) adds that joining forces with other research libraries for a common purpose is a good method to help participating libraries gain strength in the power and resources because there are not many organisations have the power and resource to act entirely independently and unilaterally In addition, Verzosa (2004b, p 2) believes that collaboration, partnering schemes, and networking can help libraries, especially libraries in developing countries “bridge the digital divide” and “create an information-rich environment in the archives sphere of influence, and provide wide opportunities to benefit from shared archival information resources”

Resource sharing among academic libraries is needed to overcome a national shortage of information resource (Cho, 2010) According to Ranaweera (2008), in Sri Lanka, union catalogue is a good tool to help libraries share information resource Specifically, building up the National Union Catalogue (NUCAT) helps libraries share cataloguing, avoid the duplication of information resource, and get maximum usage

of resources at a minimum cost In addition, Mark (2007) believes that it is possible to address common issues such as copyright, funding, the managing of datasets, digital

preservation, and open access by sharing expertise, building partnerships and alliances

Furthermore, inter-library collaboration brings member libraries financial and resource benefits Kargbo (2009, p 349) shows that through collaboration, member libraries can “gain access to a large volume of literature without increase in library budget; acquisitions can be planned to acquire the most important materials required

by member libraries; continuous sharing of expertise” For example, in Korea, sharing and distribution of academic resources between libraries in a library consortium helped “save the amount of budgeting and resources in domestic university libraries” (Cho, 2010, p 323) This helps to reduce the financial burden of the Korean government in general and to libraries in this country in particular Another example

is given by Tsimpoglou (2004) who argues that in Greece systematic co-operation is the only way to overcome the budgetary constraints He gives the example of the HILL-net (Hellenic Interlibrary Loan Network) which has been the first systematic collaborative activity among Hellenic libraries and currently consists of 127 member-libraries, located in Greece The system enables users to access the database of the union catalogue and order articles in the journal collections of the member libraries This not only reduces the cost of buying materials, but also enhances the quality of library service

2.3.2 Benefits to users

Inter-library collaboration not only brings many advantages to libraries, but also benefits to the user Cooperation between libraries is not a passing fad, the latest model or theory in organisational management In fact, the collaboration needs between libraries has increased over the years, because “it will continue to make a positive difference in the lives of individuals and of communities” (Gaetz, 2011, p 186) This means that the user is provided greater access to free or almost free resources, and save time in searching

Kargbo (2009, p 345) indicates that in advanced countries like Britain, Canada, Australia, Germany, and America, “library and information staff make attempts to join

in cooperative ventures to achieve more comprehensive coverage and easier access through planning material expenditures and sharing their resources” to improve library services for all users

In Indonesia, university computerised network is considered a type of library cooperation; and this is useful to “increase educational activity procedures and resources at all state universities through computer-based networks” and to “increase the efficiency of the higher education system through co-operation in the matters of administrative data processing” (Sulistyo-Basuki, 2002, p 22).

inter-Libraries, especially in the developing countries, always face difficulties of acquisition because of significant changes in information environment, weak technology, and limited budget Therefore, “sharing of information helps the libraries to perform a balance and up-to-date information service for its clients” (Ranaweera, 2008) For example, in Sri Lanka users can access the information resource of member libraries through the National Union Catalogue (NUCAT) which is a good tool for sharing cataloguing as well as sharing material among libraries

Through cooperative efforts, libraries can develop and increase the resources and usefulness of the collections to provide wider collection to user as George and Blixrud (2008, p 6) indicate that “collaboration among libraries improves the prospects for individual library success in fulfilling local needs”

2.3.3 Challenges to libraries

Inter-library collaboration brings many benefits to libraries and the user; however, there are a large number of challenges which libraries have to face According to Verzosa (2004c), geography, underfunding, understaffing, lack of necessary resources, outdated technology, lack of standard and negative attitudes such as scepticism, fear of loss, reluctance to take risks, and the pervasive lack of tradition of cooperation are considered barriers and challenges to library collaboration, especially in developing countries Verzosa (2004c) also mentions these challenges when speaking of inter-library collaboration in the Philippines which shows a remarkable range of cooperative activities and consortial arrangements that range from the simple to the more complex

Geographical distance is considered one of the barriers to inter-library collaboration because it directly affects inter-library loan activity as Bailey and Radnor (2009) indicate that variables such as turnaround (distance between storage facility and library; method of delivery/shipping from storage facility to library; turnaround expectations of external/internal borrowers or patrons), interoperability (use of multiple systems/software at storage facility and library), storage facility resources

(human resources, equipment) cause many challenges to resource sharing and remote storage

The second challenge to inter-library collaboration is financial Pollard and Tucker (2011) indicate that libraries have to face the financial crisis and the cuts to library collection in recent years Furthermore, Kupperman (2008) stresses that library services to users in a limited time with little or no budget is considered a major challenge to libraries Alire (2009 cited in Sugnet, 2009, p 16) believes that

“competition for funding will worsen” in the years approaching 2020 because of the current economic issues This makes collaboration among libraries in the future more difficult One of the financial challenges, especially in developing countries to inter-library collaboration in general and cooperative project in particular is funding only for

a limited time This hinders the long-term collaboration between libraries because as Sulistyo-Basuki (2002) indicates the libraries do not have budgets to continue the collaborative activities and this means the cooperation ends when the funding runs out

In recent years, the development of digital content industry and digital libraries bring many benefits to users as well as libraries and information centres The fundamental reason for building digital libraries is belief that it will provide better delivery of information than was not possible in the past (Arms, 2000) However, according to Pollard and Tucker (2011), the development of digital content industry also is an indirect cause which influences inter-library collaboration because costs for digital content continue to increase while budgets reduce

As for cooperation in the area of digitisation, “sharing of digitized materials is hampered by copyright issues” (Verzosa, 2004c, p 4) For instance, in Indonesia, many libraries joint library groups to borrow books However, many borrowing libraries do not have a big enough budget to send the borrowed books back Therefore, to reduce transport costs, many libraries photocopy the books and send them to other academic libraries instead of lending the books (Sulistyo-Basuki, 2002) This means that by photocopying items libraries are in breach of copyright and intellectual property rights because they aim to provide items to their own users in a limited time with a little cost

Alire (2009 cited in Sugnet, 2009) also indicates some new challenges to inter-library collaboration in the future These challenges are explained further in the following

points First, it is needed to keep libraries relevant to users but there will be a much greater demand for information technology to assist in the process, and the environment will be much more complex Second, the generation gap between new MLS graduates and old staff who have been working for many years The newer staff work at a different speed and technology; and this clashes with traditional inter-library collaboration environment

One more challenge to collaboration between academic libraries is given by Mark (2007) who indicates that working together for a common purpose means participating libraries have to trade much of their independence and freedom of action in order to gain strength in the power and resources as inter-library collaboration offers the advantages of expressing one voice, and dealing with one budget and one action plan

In summary, the literature on inter-library collaboration between academic libraries concentrates on explaining the concept of inter-library collaboration, analysing the factors which affect inter-library collaboration, and exploring the benefits as well as challenges associated with cooperation between academic libraries These are supported by examples, especially in academic libraries in developing countries Based on the literature, this research is expanded on through presentation of empirical evidence gathered from the methodology discussed in the next chapter

3.1 Research design

This research was conducted in order to determine the inter-library collaboration level among member libraries of VNU-HCM and then inform recommendations for the future inter-library cooperation in this library system At the same time, a set of research objectives were established and proposed in the revised dissertation plan (See Appendix A) to serve as a reminder for the purpose of this study The research objectives are as follows

1 To identify the present condition of inter-library collaboration among member libraries of VNU-HCM;

2 To find out the obstacles to inter-library collaboration among member libraries

of research By means of employing this combined approach, the researcher was able to obtain the advantages of both qualitative and quantitative approaches and overcome their limitations

Survey research which was applied in this study is classified as a type of quantitative research with using scientific sampling and questionnaire design to measure characteristics of the population with statistical precision (Sukamolson, 2007)

Sukamolson (2007) also indicates that using quantitative research method brings many advantages such as

• Providing estimates of populations at large

• Indicating the extensiveness of attitudes held by people

• Providing results which can be condensed to statistics

• Allowing for statistical comparison between various groups

• Having precision, being definitive and standardized

• Measuring level of occurrence, actions, trends, etc

• Answering such questions as "How many?" and "How often?"

As for the qualitative methods, they provide a depth of understanding of issues that is not possible through the use of quantitative methods, statistically-based investigations Furthermore, instead of choosing from fixed answers as quantitative methods do, the qualitative methods allow the participants to respond in their own words In addition, by encouraging participants to elaborate on their answers, qualitative method allows the researcher the flexibility to probe initial participant responses (Mack et al., 2005)

An initial survey questionnaire (See Appendix C) was given to the staff working at member libraries of VNU-HCM to “gather data at a particular point in time with the intention of describing the nature of existing conditions” (Cohen and Manion, 1994, p 83) The questionnaire was designed to be quick and easy for staff to complete, with the use of closed-ended questions, several questions involving a choice of tick boxes, with a minimum amount of written response required The staff were sent an e-mail with a link to a survey URL They visited to a website and then were invited to participate in the survey The data from the returned questionnaires was collated and analysed and the findings can be found in Chapter 4

The survey was generated using the freeonlinesurvey.com This enabled the specific customisation of the survey which could be disseminated and returned quickly and easily, leading to faster analysis of the results The questionnaire evolved after being trialled with two staff working at a member library of VNU-HCM And no suggestions for changes were made, the survey was sent out to all participants via an email link in early July 2012 Responses were completed and sent back to the researcher within two weeks

The survey questions were mapped onto the research objectives are as follows

• Identify the present condition of inter-library collaboration among member libraries of VNU-HCM;

• Find out the obstacles to inter-library collaboration among member libraries of

Part 2: was used for the member libraries which often take part in inter-library collaboration activities at VNU-HCM This part consisted of 7 questions that were mapped onto objective 1 and 2 in an attempt to identify the present condition as well

as challenges of taking part in inter-library collaboration activities at VNU-HCM Specifically, question 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9 were mapped onto objective 1 to identify the level of inter-collaboration among member libraries of VNU-HCM as well as libraries’ future plans to develop inter-library collaboration at the VNU-HCM library system At

the same time, question 5 and 6 were mapped onto objective 2 to find out obstacles which libraries have to face when taking part in inter-library collaboration activities

Part 3: was used for the member libraries which have not taken inter-library collaboration activities at VNU-HCM This part contained 6 questions that were also mapped onto objective 1 in an attempt to identify the present condition of taking part

in inter-library collaboration activities at VNU-HCM In particular, question 10 to 15 were mapped onto objective 1 to explore the reason why libraries do not take part in inter-library collaboration, libraries’ future plans to take part in inter-collaboration at VNU as well as identify the level of inter-collaboration among member libraries of VNU-HCM

3.2.2 Interview

According to McNamara (1999, p 1) “interviews are particularly useful for getting the story behind a participant's experiences The interviewer can pursue in-depth information around a topic” Therefore in-depth interviews with the chairman and deputy chairman of the Library Council of VNU-HCM were conducted to gather qualitative data The objectives of this study related to the interview are as follows

• Identify the present condition of inter-library collaboration among member libraries of VNU-HCM;

• Suggest recommendations to enhance the inter-library collaboration practices among member libraries of VNU-HCM

Accordingly, the interviews were undertaken to seek the respondents’ opinions about the present condition of inter-library collaboration among individual libraries of VNU-HCM as well as examine the current inter-library collaboration policy of the VNU-HCM library system At the same time, their views would inform recommendations for the future inter-library policy at VNU-HCM by asking a series of open-ended questions The interview consisted of 11 open-ended questions (See Appendix D) These questions were sent to the chairman and deputy chairman prior to the start of each interview to give them more time to prepare the answers This was done to help the interviewees avoid forgetting and losing an important opinion that may influence the study The findings from the interview and the findings from the survey were tested together in order to ensure the genuineness of the participants’ responses and enhance the validity of the overall study The interview questions were mapped onto research objective 1 and 3 Therefore, the questions were subdivided into two parts:

Part 1: identified the present condition of inter-library collaboration among individual libraries of VNU-HCM by asking about the number of member libraries taking part in inter-library collaboration activities, level of collaboration among these libraries at VNU-HCM, and factors which affect the inter-library collaboration among libraries

Part 2: allowed the interviewees to consider whether they would make any changes

to the current inter-library collaboration policy at VNU

Consent forms were sent to the interviewees to seek their agreement to participate in the research Each interviewee was also asked via email to select a time of their choice to conduct the interview based on their availability Both interviews were conducted through Skype in Vietnamese, so the researcher translated the responses

to English The interviews were recorded on a recording machine and transcribed by the researcher

3.3 Sampling

The nine member libraries of VNU-HCM have 120 staff (up till 12/2011) Therefore a total of 122 respondents were asked to participate in the research, including 2 interview participants and 120 survey respondents The chairman and deputy chairman of the Library Council of VNU-HCM were selected to take part in the interviews As for the survey, the participants qualified for sample selection must be staff or employees working in nine member libraries of VNU-HCM This qualification ensured that the participants understand the nature of the inter-library collaboration among member libraries of VNU-HCM, making the survey easy for them to accomplish According to Israel (1992), to achieve a desirable level of precision, the entire population would have to be sampled in small population (200 people or less) Therefore, it may be preferable to do a census of everyone in the population in this research to gain a 0% sampling error, rather than a sample when the number of library staff in 9 member libraries or the size of the population is small with 120 people Accordingly, all staff in 9 member libraries of VNU-HCM was selected to participate in this research The number of library staff in libraries is presented as follows:

• VNULib: 23 library staff;

• UTLib: 26 library staff;

• USLib: 19 library staff;

• USSHLib: 33 library staff;

• UELLib: 8 library staff;

• IULib: 4 library staff;

• UITLib: 4 library staff;

• IERLib: 1 library staff;

• VNU-HCM High School Lib: 2 library staff

All library staff were contacted through email to seek their agreement to participate in the research

3.4 Data analysis

According to Levine (1997, p 1) “Data analysis is a body of methods that help to

describe facts, detect patterns, develop explanations, and test hypotheses” In

addition, Adèr (2008, p 334-335) indicates that “data analysis is a process, within which several phases can be distinguished” Therefore, data analysis was applied in this research to describe a typical value and find differences among values with the aims of identifying the present condition of inter-library collaboration among member libraries of VNU-HCM; finding out the obstacles to inter-library collaboration among member libraries of VNU-HCM; and suggesting recommendations to enhance the inter-library collaboration practices among member libraries of VNU-HCM

Before undertaking the data analysis chapter, the researcher established appropriate categories through reviewing the content of the survey and interviews as Bryman (2004) indicates that prior to the data analysis establishing a set of categories is needed to identify patterns significant to the research A set of categories from which the data was analysed is presented as follows

• The number of member libraries taking part in inter-library collaboration activities of VNU-HCM

• Inter-library collaboration level

• Inter-libraries collaboration activities

• Inter-library collaboration strategy

• Factors affect inter-library collaboration

• Obstacles of inter-library collaboration

A strategic review of the survey and interviews results was undertaken after establishing the set of categories As for the survey data, the researcher identified the similarities and differences among responses by using charts The interview transcripts were read thoroughly by the researcher several times to gather an

understanding of the interviewees’ responses Notes were made for each transcription to highlight the main ideas and opinions for each interviewee that were relevant to the research objectives Because the survey and interviews aim to identify the present condition of inter-library collaboration among individual libraries of VNU-HCM, the information obtained from the interviews was compared to the responses from the survey Specifically, the researcher compared the results of question 3 in the interview with question 1 and 2 in the survey, question 4 and 5 in the interview with question 3, 4, 10 and 12 in the survey, question 6 and 7 in the interview with question 5 in the survey

3.5 Ethical considerations

According to Bogdan and Taylor (1975, p 29), research has been shaped by ethical issues as these “ethical decisions necessarily involve one’s personal morality” Therefore, a set of ethical guidelines that needs to be respected when performing research was developed by British Educational Research Association (2011) The consideration of these ethical issues was necessary for the purpose of ensuring the privacy as well as the safety of the participants

Among the significant ethical issues that were addressed in the research process are consent and confidentiality In order to secure the consent of the selected respondents, the researcher clarified all important details of the study, including its aim and purpose A consent form (See Appendix E) was given to the chairman and deputy chairman of the Library Council of VNU-HCM to explain the purpose of the study and to seek their agreement to participate in the research They were also requested to sign the consent form At the same time, the introductory section of the survey explained the objectives and relevance of the study, and assured the respondents of anonymity Therefore, the researcher did not use a separate consent form for the survey participants

By relaying these important details, the respondents were able to understand their important role in the completion of the research The participants were also advised that they could withdraw from the study even during the process, although the data collected up that point would be used in this research With this, the participants were not forced to participate in the research The confidentiality of the participants was also ensured by not disclosing their names or personal information in the research Only relevant details that helped in answering the research questions were

included Furthermore, the findings from this study were made available to participants via their library soon after the completion of the dissertation

In addition, the study is the outcome of a Masters course in English, but the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese At the same time, some of the survey participants could not provide the responses for open-ended questions in English Therefore, the researcher had to ensure the accuracy level of data when doing translations

3.6 Limitations of the study

Limitations of the study were identified to help the reader recognize the limitations of the research, understand why such factors are limitations, and point to ways of combating these limitations of future research carried out The first limitation was the language barrier in conducting the interviews and survey Some survey respondents could not answer open-ended questions in the survey in English Furthermore, the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese Therefore, the researcher had to translate the responses from Vietnamese to English, which was time consuming as it also required careful translation by the researcher to minimise misinterpretation of the data As a result, the researcher needed more time than usual to complete the data analysis chapter, and had less time to undertake other parts of the research process The second limitation was lack of evidences about inter-library collaboration in Vietnam Therefore, the researcher had to face many challenges when undertaking the literature review The third limitation is that library staff were not motivated in taking part in the research and this affected the response rate of the survey in that instead of 120 responses the researcher received 72 completed questionnaires This number showed that more than half of population participated in the research Furthermore, it was observable in the returned questionnaires that a large number of

respondents did not answer the question number 8 “please provide some information

about your library’s strategy to develop inter-library collaboration with the libraries from other institutions” although they ticked “Yes” in the question number 7 which indicates that their libraries have strategies to develop inter-library collaboration with the libraries from other institutions As a result, analysing the future inter-library collaboration strategy of member libraries faced many challenges In addition, the IERLib has only one staff but the researcher could not get the responses from this person because of her health problem Therefore, the study used only interview data when analysing the issues related to this library The last limitation was the range of the research topic This research was conducted to evaluate the inter-library

collaboration among individual libraries of VNU-HCM generally Therefore, single issues of inter-library collaboration such as inter-library loan, human resource sharing, and information resource sharing could not be evaluated deeply These issues can be evaluated more deeply in future research

In conclusion, this chapter presented the methodology used for this research, including research design, research methodologies, sampling, data analysis, ethical considerations, and limitations The next chapter will establish the findings achieved from the data analysis and provide connections to the literature review

Chapter 4: Findings and discussion

The purpose of this chapter is to set out the results of the research based upon the methodological steps taken in Chapter 3 - methodology, initially identifying the present condition of inter-library collaboration among member libraries of VNU-HCM This will be followed by an analysis of the obstacles to inter-library collaboration among these libraries As discussed in chapter 3, the researcher obtained quantitative and qualitative data from 15 and 11 questions asked in the questionnaire (See appendix C) and the interviews (See appendix D) respectively After that the data was analysed based on a set of categories were identified prior to data collection A set of categories is presented under the headings of:

• The number of member libraries taking part in inter-library collaboration activities of VNU-HCM

• Inter-library collaboration level

• Inter-libraries collaboration activities

• Inter-library collaboration strategy

• Factors affect inter-library collaboration

• Obstacles of inter-library collaboration

In addition, this chapter provides a critical discussion of the findings and their linkages to the existing literature and research in order to ascertain whether this new data supports or contradicts the existing information To maintain the anonymity of the participants in this study, the researcher replaced the name and title of the two interviewees by interviewee A and interviewee B

4.1 The number of member libraries taking part in inter-library

collaboration activities of VNU-HCM

In this part, the research identified the number of member libraries which took part in the inter-library collaboration activities as well as the number of individual libraries which had not participated in the inter-library collaboration activities of VNU-HCM Furthermore, it also indicated the reason why some of these libraries could not join collaboration activities of the VNU-HCM library system These were determined through the survey and the interviews Quantitative data from the survey revealed that most of the member libraries took part in the inter-library collaboration activities

of VNU-HCM with 97.2% Only 2.8% agreed that their libraries had not participated in the inter-library collaboration activities of VNU-HCM The interviewees also asserted

that there were 7 out of 9 member libraries which took part in the inter

collaboration activities of VNU

UELLib, IULib, and

VNU-participated in the inter

According to the interviewee A, in recent years many new institutions of VNUwere established and they also were

therefore they had not taken part in the inter

the Library Council of VNU

support if they needed

Figure 1: The reasons why some of the member libraries of VNU

the inter

Based on the survey, when looking at the reason why some of

of VNU-HCM had not joined the inter

researcher realised that th

part in the inter-library cooperation of VNU

(50%) and poor communication with other libraries (50%) These reasons were mentioned in the literature review as bar

libraries Verzosa (2004c) asserted that communication among libraries was considered one of important factors which influence cooperative efforts Furthermore, Shepherd (1998) claimed that human resource was anot

achieving an effective cooperation The interviewees provided more reasons to clarify

50%

that there were 7 out of 9 member libraries which took part in the inter

collaboration activities of VNU-HCM including VNULib, UTLib, USLib,

-HCM High school Lib However, UITLib and IERLib participated in the inter-library collaboration activities of VNU-HCM officially According to the interviewee A, in recent years many new institutions of VNUwere established and they also were in the process of developing the

re they had not taken part in the inter-library collaboration activities as well as the Library Council of VNU-HCM However, the Library Council could give them

Figure 1: The reasons why some of the member libraries of VNU-HCM had not joined

the inter-library collaboration activities

Based on the survey, when looking at the reason why some of the member libraries

HCM had not joined the inter-library collaboration activities (see figure 1)researcher realised that there were two main reasons as to why they could not take

library cooperation of VNU-HCM including lack of human resources (50%) and poor communication with other libraries (50%) These reasons were mentioned in the literature review as barriers of inter-library collaboration among

Verzosa (2004c) asserted that communication among libraries was considered one of important factors which influence cooperative efforts Furthermore, Shepherd (1998) claimed that human resource was another indispensable factor in achieving an effective cooperation The interviewees provided more reasons to clarify

Lack of human resources

Poor communication with other libraries

weak technology

Lack of information resources

Other

that there were 7 out of 9 member libraries which took part in the inter-library

USLib, USSHLib, IERLib had not HCM officially According to the interviewee A, in recent years many new institutions of VNU-HCM

in the process of developing the library, library collaboration activities as well as HCM However, the Library Council could give them

had not joined

member libraries (see figure 1), the they could not take HCM including lack of human resources (50%) and poor communication with other libraries (50%) These reasons were

library collaboration among Verzosa (2004c) asserted that communication among libraries was considered one of important factors which influence cooperative efforts Furthermore,

her indispensable factor in achieving an effective cooperation The interviewees provided more reasons to clarify

Lack of human resources

Poor communication with

Lack of information

why some of libraries had not participated in the inter-library collaboration of HCM

VNU-Interviewee A indicated that UITLib and IERLib still were in the library building process They had not had a completed library Hence they had not become full-fledged members as well as had not participated in the inter-library collaboration activities of the VNU-HCM library system As for VNU-HCM High school Lib, although

it was an official member of the VNU-HCM library system, there was not much sharing done because this library’s nature was different in comparison with other libraries of VNU-HCM

Similarly, interviewee B said that UITLib and IERLib were unsettled Furthermore, VNU-HCM High school Lib had different users and material sources in compared with the rest libraries

From this study, it can be said that most of the libraries of VNU-HCM participate in the inter-library collaboration activities Regarding to the libraries which have not taken part in the inter-library cooperation, it seems collaboration efforts were affected

by many reasons such as human resources, the relationship among libraries, target users, material resources, and the stability It can be seen that the stability of libraries was not mentioned in the previous researches As for the VNU-HCM library system, it can be considered one of factors which affect directly taking part in inter-library collaboration activities Accordingly, libraries not participating in the inter-library collaboration activities of VNU-HCM should concentrate on solving human resource problems, improving the communication between their libraries with libraries from other institutions, and stepping up the library building

4.2 Inter-library collaboration level

The next category presented the inter-library collaboration level among member libraries of VNU-HCM by using both survey and interview data In the survey, the staff working in libraries which often take part in the inter-library collaboration activities of VNU-HCM were asked to rate the inter-library collaboration in general between their libraries and other libraries of VNU-HCM with a scale of 5 levels including “very good”, “good”, “neutral”, “poor”, and “very poor” Generally, quantitative data from the survey revealed that the inter-library collaboration level among member libraries of VNU-HCM was good (see figure 2) Specifically, 48.6% believed that the inter-library collaboration of VNU-HCM was good 22.9% and 20% participants indicated that this collaboration was neutral and very good respectively while only 8.6% thought that it was poor

Figure 2: the inter-library collaboration level between the participants’ libraries and

other libraries of VNU-HCM

At the same time, the respondents working in libraries which have not participated in the inter-library collaboration activities of VNU-HCM were required to rate the inter-library collaboration among other libraries of VNU-HCM with 5 levels (“very good”,

“good”, “neutral”, “poor”, and “very poor”) Surprisingly, 100% of respondents thought that the inter-library collaboration among other member libraries was good The interviewees added that:

Interviewee A: VNULib, UTLib, USLib, and USSHLib played a very active role in the inter-library collaboration activities However, UELLib and IULib were new institutions They were investing in infrastructures for completing the libraries Therefore, in fact, they participated in most of the inter-library collaboration activities

of VNU-HCM but they did not play an important role as previous 4 libraries

Interviewee B: in general, member libraries had got much enthusiasm for their collaborative activities such as professional competence, services and training

Overall, the findings show that member libraries of VNU-HCM take part in the library collaboration activities and they do so enthusiastically However, there is the difference between the libraries’ infrastructures that create different roles in inter-library collaboration activities It can be said that the difference of library infrastructures or in other words the differences of human resources, information resources, etc among libraries was the main reason which led establishing