WHAT WE DO
The key role of COTUL Comprises engaging her members in joint information provision activities particularly; Acquisition of electronic information sources, Research, Training, Consultancy and others deemed critical in the attainment of academic excellence in learning, teaching and research to the member institutions as follows:
- To provide access to a high-quality and scholarly electronic resources to a large number of academic institutions including universities and colleges at substantially lower rates of subscription and at most favorable terms and conditions.
- To promote rapid and efficient access to scholarly content to the users and to create and promote use of ICT in teaching and learning to her members.
- To extend the benefit of Consortium to its associate members including private universities and colleges.
- To impart training to the users, librarians, research scholars and faculty members of the institutions in use of electronic resources with an aim to optimize their usage.
- To promote use of e-resources with gradual decrease in print subscription.
- To promote interaction and inter-library cooperation amongst the participating universities.
- To evaluate the usage of the subscribed resources and to identify new resources that are required to be subscribed under the programme.
- To bring qualitative change in teaching, learning and research with an aim to meet the ever growing challenges of globalization of higher education.
- To increase the research productivity of the institutions both in terms of quality and quantity of publications.
We build capacity by organizing training events, developing tools and resources, and providing up-to-date information on issues that affect access to knowledge.
We advocate for access to knowledge nationally and internationally.
We encourage knowledge sharing through peer-to-peer learning, best practice case studies, our annual conference and cooperation between library consortia.
We initiate pilot projects for innovative library services.
OUR PROGRAMMES
- COTUL programmes, are run by a team of voluntering dedicated staff and experts, designed to enable access to knowledge for education, learning, research and sustainable community development.
- The Licensing Programme negotiates affordable access to commercial e-resources, promotes awareness, and encourages usage.
- The Copyright and Libraries Programme advocates for national and international copyright law reform, and supports librarians to become advocates for a fair copyright system.
- The Open Access Programme removes barriers to knowledge sharing by advocating for the adoption of open access (OA) policies and mandates, and by building the capacity to launch and sustain OA repositories and journals.
- The Public Library Innovation Programme advances community development by enabling public libraries to implement innovative ideas that use technology to improve people’s lives and livelihoods.
