Electronic Publications and Library Cooperation. Bulgarian Experience

The article considers the library cooperation problem and some aspects of the relationships ‘library coalition – library – end users’. The authors describe the successful model of the first library coalition in Bulgaria – the Bulgarian Information Consortium. Problems of creation, management practice, activities and achievements are presented and discussed. The role of electronic resources is viewed and analyzed from the perspective of library collaboration. The usage of these resources is shown as a powerful driving factor for the development and cooperation of libraries. It allows them to overcome behavioural, organizational, and economic problems and to start their real modernization. The cooperation of libraries in Bulgaria begins with shared electronic publications and continues mainly on this basis. We believe that this is the right direction for the Bulgarian librarian society and we intend to follow its course.